UNIVERSITY  OF  CALIFORNIA 
AT  LOS  ANGELES 


SUPPLEMENTARY  EDUCATIONAL  MONOGRAPHS 

Published  in  conjunction  with 

THE    SCHOOL    REVIEW    and    THE    ELEMENTARY    SCHOOL   JOURNAL 

Vol.11  August  1918 

No.  3  Whole  No.  9 


THE  HANDWRITING  MOVEMENT 


41?0     1 


THE  HANDWRITING  MOVEMENT 

A  STUDY  OF  THE 
MOTOR  FACTORS  OF  EXCELLENCE  IN  PENMANSHIP 

AN  INVESTIGATION  CARRIED  ON  WITH  THE  AID  OF  A 
SUBSIDY  BY  THE  GENERAL  EDUCATION  BOARD 


By 
FRANK  N.  FREEMAN 

Associate  Professor  of  Educational  Psychology 
University  of  Chicago 

with  the  assistance  of 

H.  W.  NUTT,  MARY  L.  DOUGHERTY,  C.  F.  DUNN 
and  P.  V.  WEST 


THE  UNIVERSITY  OF  CHICAGO  PRESS 

CHICAGO.  ILLINOIS 


61331 


Copyright  1918  By 
The  University  of  Chicago 


All  Rights  Reserved 


Published  August  191 8 


Composed  and  Printed  By 

The  University  of  Chicaj^o  Press 

Chicago,  Illinois,  U.S.A. 


u  f3 


PREFACE 

This  report  is  designed  for  two  types  of  readers — the  technically 
trained  student  of  the  science  of  education  and  the  practical 
administrator.  The  scientific  student  is  interested  in  the  details 
of  the  methods  and  results  of  experimentation  by  which  the  validity 
of  the  practical  conclusions  may  be  judged.  He  takes  a  critical 
attitude  toward  the  methods  of  the  experimentation  and  the  inter- 
pretation of  the  results.  The  practical  administrator,  on  the  other 
hand,  is  interested  primarily  in  the  conclusions  of  experimentation 
and  in  the  rules  of  practice  which  are  to  be  derived  from  them. 
The  report  has  been  organized  in  such  a  way  that  the  demands 
of  both  these  types  of  readers  may  be  met.  For  the  sake  of  the 
technically  trained  student  full  details  of  the  method  and  results 
have  been  included.  For  the  sake  of  the  reader  who  is  interested 
primarily  in  the  practical  outcome  the  methods  and  results  of  the 
experiments  are  summarized  and  printed  in  bold-faced  type.  By 
reading  the  summaries  of  Chapters  I  to  V  inclusive  and  then  select- 
ing from  the  detailed  discussion  in  Chapters  III  and  IV  concrete 
examples  of  the  general  principles  which  appear  in  the  summaries, 
it  is  possible  to  gain  a  general  conception  of  the  character  of  the 
laboratory  experiment  and  of  the  nature  of  the  handwriting  move- 
ment as  revealed  by  it.  The  more  directly  practical  part  of  the 
report  is  contained  in  Chapters  VI  and  VII.  These  chapters  give 
an  outline  of  the  method  of  teaching  writing  which  was  derived 
from  the  laboratory  study  and  present  the  results  of  the  practical 
trial  of  this  method  under  ordinary  school  conditions.  It  is  possible 
to  carry  over  directly  into  the  school  the  practices  which  are  here 
described.     A  more  detailed  statement  of  these  practices  in  the 

form  of  a  handwriting  manual  is  in  preparation. 

F.  N.  F. 
Chicago,  Illinois 


TABLE  OF  CONTENTS 


PAGE 


List  of  Figures ix 

List  of  Tables xiii 

Acknowledgments xv 

Chapter  I.    Introduction  and  Survey  of  Previous  Studies       .  i 

General  Summary.  School  Surveys  and  the  Bearing  of  Their 
Results  on  the  Problem  of  Writing.  The  Results  of  Previous 
Studies  on  the  Writing  Activity.     Summary. 

Chapter  II.    The  Methods  and  Apparatus  of  the  Motion-Picture 

Study 15 

Summary  of  the  Entire  Analytical  Experiment.  Aspects  of  Writing 
Which  Motion  Pictures  Reveal.  Apparatus  and  Technique.  The 
Method  of  Studying  the  Records.     The  Subjects. 

Chapter  III.    Analysis  of  Individual  Records  from  the  Motion- 
Picture  Study  31 

Study  of  Illustrative  Records  from  Adult  Writers.  The  Position 
and  Movement  of  a  Writing  Expert.  The  Position  and  Movement 
of  a  Good  Adult  Writer.  The  Position  and  Movement  of  Two 
Poor  Adult  Writers.  Illustrative  Records  from  Children.  Position 
and  Movement  of  Good  Writers.  Summary.  Position  and  Move- 
ment of  Poor  Writers.  Summary.  Illustrations  of  the  Changes  in 
Position  and  Movement  after  Training.  Summary  of  the  Analysis 
of  Illustrative  Cases. 

Chapter  IV.    Statistical  Comparison  of  the  Types  of  Position  and 

Movement  of  Good  and  Poor  Writers 96 

Hand  Position.  Hand  Position  of  Children.  Hand  Position  of 
Adults.  Summary.  The  Composition  of  the  Writing  Movement. 
Speed  Changes  in  the  Writing  Movement.     Summary. 


Chapter  V.    The  Analysis  of  the  Writing  Movement  in  the  Field 

Study i 

Method  and  Organization.  Correlation  of  Rhythm  with  Age, 
Quality  of  Writing,  and  Speed  of  Writing.  Correlation  of  Arm 
Movement  with  Age,  Quality  of  Writing,  and  Speed  of  Writing. 
Summary. 

vii 


7 


\-iii  TABLE  OF  CONTENTS 


PAGE 


Chapter  \I.    The  Pedagogical  Experiment 126 

Summary.     General    Plan.     Preliminary    Trial    Course.     Organiza- 
tion of  the  Expanded  Course.     Results  of  the  Expanded  Course. 

Chapter  VII.    Pr.\ctical  Recommendations 159 

Summary. 

Index 167 


LIST  OF  FIGURES 

FIOCRE  PAGE 

1.  Illustrations  of  Graphic  Methods  of  Recording  the  Speed  of  Writing 

Strokes       9 

2.  General  View  of  the  Photographic  Apparatus  and  Arrangement  21 

3.  General  View  of  Projection  Apparatus 25 

4.  Specimen  Photographs  of  the  Hands  of  Two  Writers 27 

5.  Illustration  of  a  Record  of  the  Speed  Changes  in  Writing       ...  29 

6.  The  Writing  of  C.  P.  Zaner  and  the  Analysis  of  the  Speed  on  One 

Word 32 

7.  Speed  Curve  from  the  Word  "Handwriting"  Written  by  C.  P.  Zaner  3^ 

8.  Hand  Position  and  Gross  Movement  of  C.  P.  Zaner 34 

9.  Record  of  a  Good  Adult  Writer 43 

10.  Hand  Position  and  Gross  ^Movement  of  a  Good  Adult  Writer      .      .  44 

11.  Record  of  a  Poor  Adult  Writer 46 

12.  Hand  Position  and  Gross  Movement  of  a  Poor  Adult  Writer             .  47 

1^.  Record  of  a  Poor  x\dult  Writer 49 

14a.  Hand  Position  and  Gross  Movement  of  a  Poor  Adult  Writer     .      .  50 

14b.  Hand  Position  and  Gross  Movement  of  a  Poor  Adult  Writer  51 

15.  Hand  Position  and  Gross  IMovement  of  a  Good  Writer  from  Grade  VI  53 

16.  Record  of  a  Writer  from  Grade  \T 54 

17(7.  Hand   Position   and   Gross   Movement   of   a    Good   Writer   from 

Grade  VIII 55 

176.  Hand   Position   and    Gross   Movement   of   a   Good   Writer   from 

Grade  VIII 56 

18.  Record  of  a  Good  Writer  from  Grade  VIII 58 

19.  Hand  Position  and  Gross  Movement  of  a  Fairly  Good  Writer  from 

Grade  IV 59 

20.  Record  of  a  Fairly  Good  Writer  from  Grade  IV' 60 

21.  Hand  Position  and  Gross  Movement  of  a  Good  Writer  from  (irade  1\'  62 

22.  Record  of  a  Good  Writer  from  Grade  IV 63 

23a.  Hand   Position   and   Gross   Movement    of   a    Poor    Writer    from 

Grade  \'II 65 

236.  Hand   Position    and    Gross    Movement    of   a    Poor   Writer   from 

Grade  \  II 66 

ix 


X  LIST  OF  FIGURES 

FIGURE  P'^'^^ 

24.  Record  of  a  Poor  Writer  from  Grade  MI 67 

2  5(j.  Hand   Position   and    Gross   Movement    of   a    Poor   Writer   from 

Grade  VIII 68 

25ft.  Hand    Position   and    Gross    Movement    of   a    Poor   Writer   from 

Grade  Mil 69 

26.  Record  of  a  Poor  Writer  from  Grade  Mil 7° 

27.  Hand  Position  and  Gross  Movement  of  a  Poor  Writer  from  Grade  I\'  71 

28.  Record  of  a  Poor  Writer  from  Grade  IV 72 

2ga.  Hand    Position   and   Gross   Movement   of   a    Poor    Writer    from 

Grade  IV 73 

2gh.  Hand   Position    and    Gross  .Movement    of   a    Poor   Writer   from 

Grade  IV 74 

30.  Record  of  a  Poor  Writer  from  Grade  1\' 75 

31.  Hand  Position  and  Gross  Movement  of  a  Writer  from  Grade  IV 

after  Training  76 

^2.  Record  of  a  Writer  from  Grade  IV  after  Training 77 

33.  Hand  Position  and  Gross  Movement  of  a  Poor  Writer  from  Grade 

III  A  before  Training 78 

34.  Hand  Position  and  Gross  Movement  of  a  Writer  from  Grade  III  A 

after  Training                    79 

^S.  Record  of  a  Poor  Writer  from  Grade  III  A  before  Training   ...  84 

36.  Record  of  a  Writer  from  Grade  III  A  after  Training 85 

37.  Detailed  Record  of  the  Progression  of  the  Hand  of  a  Poor  Writer 

from  Grade  IV 86 

38.  Detailed  Record  of  the  Progression  of  the  Hand  of  a  Good  Writer 

from  Grade  IV 87 

39.  Detailed  Record  of  the  Progression  of  the  Hand  of  a  Good  Writer 

from  Grade  IV 88 

40.  Detailed  Record  of  the  Progression  of  the  Hand  of  a  Poor  Writer 

from  Grade  IV  before  Training 89 

41.  Detailed  Record  of  the  Progression  of  the  Hand  of  a  Writer  from 

Grade  IV  after  Training 90 

42.  Detailed  Record  of  the  Progression  of  the  Hand  of  a  Poor  Writer 

from  Grade  III  A  before  Training  91 

43.  Detailed  Record  of  the  Progression  of  the  Hand  of  a  Pupil  of  Grade 

III  A  after  Training 92 

44.  Scale  for  Recording  the  Amount  of  Arm  Movement  Indicated  by 

the  Tracer  Record 118 

45.  Illustrations  of  Writing  Exercises 129 


LIST  OF  FIGURES  xi 


FICURK 


PACE 


46.  Illustrations  of  Writing  Exercises 130 

47.  Comparison  of  the  Progress  in  Form  of  Writing  in  the  Training  School 

and  the  Two  Check  Schools  from  the  First  to  the  Last  Test  140 

48.  Comparison  of  the  Progress  in  Speed  of  Writing  in  the  Training 

School  and  the  Two  Check  Schools  from  the  First  to  the  Last 
Test 141 

49.  Progress  through  the  Grades  in  the  Training  School  and  the  Two 

Check  Schools  in  Comparison  with  the  Standard       ....      142 

50.  Comparison  of  Consecutiv-e  Grades 143,  144 

51.  The  Writing  of  a  Pupil  from  Each  Grade  (II-VIII)  at  the  Beginning 

and  End  of  the  Training  Course 146-157 


LIST  OF  TABLES 

TABLE  I'AGE 

I.   Basis   of   Classification   of    the    Individuals   According  to  Their 

Hand  Position 97 

II.   Comparison  of  the  Frequency  of  \'arious  Hand  Positions  among 

Several  Groups  of  Children gS 

III.  Comparison  of  the  Frequency  of  Various  Hand  Positions  among 
Two  Groups  of  Adults 104 

IV.  Basis  of  Classification  of  Individuals  According  to  Their  Writing 
Movement 108 

V.  Comparison  of  the  Frequency  of  Various  Kinds  of  Movement 

among  Several  Groups  of  Children  and  Adults 109 

VI.  Percentage  of  Time  Spent  by  Children  in  Pauses  at  End  of  Strokes  1 14 

VII.  Average  Percentage  of  Strokes  Made  with  Rhythm     ....  114 

VIII.   Correlation  of  Rhythm  with  Age 119 

IX.  Correlation  of  Rhythm  with  Quahty,  Freeman  Scale   .                  .  121 

X.   Correlation  of  Rhythm  with  Quality,  Ayres  Scale 121 

XL   Correlation  of  Rhythm  with  Speed 122 

XII.  Correlation  of  Arm  Movement  with  Age 123 

XIII.  Correlation  of  Arm  Movement  with  Quality,  Freeman  Scale  124 

XIV.  Correlation  of  Arm  Movement  with  Quality,  Ayres  Scale  124 
XV.   Correlation  of  Arm  Movement  with  Speed 125 

XVI.   Points  Lost  or  Gained  in  Ten  Weeks'  Practice 133 

XVII.  Comparison  of  Average  Progress  of  the  Training  School  and  the 

Two  Check  Schools 139 


u 


ACKNOWLEDGMENTS 

The  experimental  investigation  which  is  reported  in  this  mono- 
graph was  begun  in  the  spring  of  191 5  by  taking  some  motion  pic- 
tures of  handwriting.  The  following  year,  1915-16,  the  General 
Education  Board  made  an  appropriation  which  made  it  possible 
greatly  to  enlarge  the  equipment  used  in  the  study  and  to  secure 
the  services  of  Mr.  C.  F.  Dunn,  who  devoted  his  entire  time  to  the 
work  of  taking  photographs  and  measuring  the  records.  A  con- 
tinuation of  the  grant  during  the  year  1916-17  made  possible  a 
similar  arrangement  with  Mr.  P.  V.  West. 

While  the  intensive  study  by  means  of  the  motion-picture 
camera  was  being  made  in  the  laboratory,  ]Mr.  H.  W.  Nutt.  who 
commenced  to  make  some  measurements  of  the  writing  movement 
of  children,  was  enabled  to  extend  the  range  of  his  study. 

At  the  end  of  the  first  year  of  experimentation  Miss  Mary  L. 
Dougherty  conducted  a  small  training  class  in  order  to  work  out 
a  course  of  teaching  to  put  in  practice  the  principles  discovered  in 
the  laboratory.  During  the  next  year  she  further  elaborated  this 
course  and  supervised  its  trial  in  the  Longfellow  School,  Kansas 
City,  Kansas. 

To  all  those  who  assisted  in  the  experiment  and  to  the  General 
Education  Board,  which  made  the  work  possible,  the  author  is 
deeply  indebted. 

The  following  school  superintendents  and  principals  con- 
tributed to  this  study  by  affording  the  opportunity  to  experiment 
upon  the  pupils  of  their  schools:  Superintendents  W.  A.  Greeson, 
of  Grand  Rapids,  ^Michigan;  H.  B.  Wilson,  of  Topeka.  Kansas; 
J.  W.  Gowans,  of  Winfield,  Kansas;  V.  F.  Wiley,  of  Mattoon, 
Illinois;  Supervisor  E.  H.  Jackson,  of  Kansas  City,  Kansas;  and 
Principal  Arthur  O.  Rape,  Ray  School,  Chicago,  Illinois.  Superin- 
tendent M.  E.  Pearson,  of  Kansas  City,  Kansas,  permitted  three 
schools  to  co-operate  in  the  pedagogical  experiment.  Miss  Minnie 
]\I.  ]\Iartin,  principal  of  the  Bryant  School,  and  ]\Iiss  Gertrude 


xvi  .4  CKNOWLEDGMENTS 

Highleyman,  principal  of  the  Quindaro  School,  each  conducted 
four  tests  during  the  course  of  a  year  in  order  that  their  schools 
might  be  used  as  check  schools.  Miss  Grace  Roberts,  principal 
of  the  Longfellow  School,  and  her  teachers  made  a  painstaking  trial 
of  an  experimental  course  in  writing  during  a  period  of  eight 
months.  The  teachers  of  the  Elementary  School  of  the  University 
of  Chicago  and  Principal  H.  0.  Gillet  co-operated  in  the  investiga- 
tion by  making  possible  the  organization  of  a  special  class  of  poor 
writers  and  by  faciHtating  the  experimentation  with  the  children 
in  the  laboratory.  To  all  these,  and  especially  to  INIiss  Roberts 
and  her  staff,  the  author  is  heartily  grateful. 


CHAPTER  I 

INTRODUCTION  AND  SURVEY  OF  PREVIOUS  STUDIES 

GENERAL  SUMMARY 

The  study  which  is  the  subject  of  this  report  had  two  aims,  a  theo- 
retical one  and  a  practical  one.  The  theoretical  aim  was  to  analyze  the 
writing  activity  of  good  and  poor  writers  and  to  discover  the  difference 
between  them.  The  practical  aim  was  to  find  and  test  means  of  training 
the  poor  writer  so  that  his  mode  of  writing  would  resemble  that  of  the 
good  writer.     The  theoretical  aim  was  subordinate  to  this  practical  aim. 

The  theoretical  aim  was  pursued  by  means  of  two  analytical  experi- 
ments. The  one  was  an  intensive  detailed  study  in  the  laboratory  of  the 
writing  movement  of  50  children  and  15  adults.  The  second  was  a  less 
detailed  study  of  the  writing  movement  of  273  public-school  children. 
Previous  laboratory  investigations  of  writing  had  furnished  the  ground 
for  a  description  of  the  more  important  features  of  the  writing  movement 
in  general  and  had  thrown  some  light  on  its  development.  They  had  not, 
however,  attempted  to  differentiate  between  the  activity  of  the  good  and 
the  poor  writer. 

Three  phases  of  the  writing  activity  were  examined  in  the  present 
study.  The  first  was  the  position  of  the  hand  and  arm,  including  the 
grasp  of  the  penholder.  Five  aspects  of  hand  position  were  studied. 
The  good  and  poor  writers  were  classified  under  each  of  these  aspects, 
and  statistics  were  compiled  in  order  to  determine  what  types  of  posi- 
tion are  more  common  among  good  than  among  poor  writers.  Finally 
practical  rules  for  guidance  in  teaching  hand  position  were  derived. 

The  second  phase  thr.;  v/as  studied  was  the  writing  movement  in  its 
gross  aspect,  which  is  usually  designated  by  the  terms  "finger  move- 
ment," "hand  movement,"  and  "arm  movement."  The  varieties  of 
movement  were  classified  under  four  heads.  The  purpose  was  to  com- 
pare the  various  writers  in  what  may  be  called  the  composition  of  the 
movement.  The  movement  as  a  whole  may  be  composed  of  varying 
proportions  of  finger  movement,  hand  movement,  wrist  movement,  and 
arm  movement.  Some  varieties  are  more  common  among  good  writers 
and  others  are  more  common  among  poor  writers. 


2  THE  HANDWRITING  MOVEMENT 

The  third  phase  is  perhaps  the  most  important.  It  concerns  the 
manner  in  which  the  movement  of  the  pen  varies  in  rapidity  from  one 
part  of  a  letter  or  word  to  another.  The  speed  of  movement  of  the  pen 
is  never  uniform.  It  fluctuates  between  slow  and  rapid  flights,  which 
are  broken  at  frequent  intervals  by  actual  pauses.  The  flights  of  the  pen, 
which  are  separated  from  one  another  by  pauses  or  by  marked  retarda- 
tion in  speed,  may  be  described  jas  units  of  movement.  Good  and 
poor  writers  differ  in  the  manner  in  which  they  divide  the  whole  move- 
ment into  units.  On  the  basis  of  these  differences,  methods  of  training 
the  child  in  organizing  the  movement  into  units  were  devised. 

The  completion  of  the  experiment  from  the  practical  point  of  view 
consisted  in  testing  the  teaching  methods  and  devices  which  were  derived 
from  the  analytical  study.  This  was  done  first  with  a  small  group  of 
poor  writers  who  had  been  studied  in  the  laboratory.  These  pupils  were 
taught  in  a  room  adjoining  the  laboratory  in  order  that  the  details  of 
procedure  might  be  gradually  perfected  by  observing  the  children 
write.  They  were  again  studied  in  the  laboratory  at  the  end  of  the 
training  period  and  the  changes  in  their  writing  activity  were  recorded. 
They  made  suflBcient  improvement  during  two  or  three  months  to  warrant 
a  more  extended  trial  of  the  methods  by  which  they  had  been  taught. 

A  more  extensive  trial  of  the  methods  which  were  worked  out  with 
the  trial  class  was  undertaken  by  introducing  them  into  an  entire  public 
school  for  a  period  of  eight  months.  A  manual  was  written  and  mimeo- 
graphed and  put  into  the  hands  of  the  teachers.  The  results  of  eight 
months'  teaching  were  carefully  measured  by  means  of  tests  and  com- 
pared with  the  progress  made  by  two  other  schools  in  the  same  city. 
The  training  school  made  much  greater  progress  during  the  year  than 
the  two  schools  with  which  it  was  compared,  and  it  exceeded  greatly 
the  average  yearly  progress  in  writing. 

SCHOOL    SURVEYS    AND    THE    BEARING    OF    THEIR    RESULTS    ON    THE 
PROBLEM   OF   WRITING 

Widespread  tests'  of  the  writing  ability  of  school  children 
indicate  that  v^e  should  expect  continuous  progress  in  both  form 
and  speed  throughout  the  elementary- school  period.     There  is  no 

'  C.  H.  Judd,  Measuring  the  Work  of  the  Public  Schools.  Cleveland  Education 
Survey,  Russell  Sage  Foundation.  F.  N.  Freeman,  Fourlcenlh  and  Sixlecnlh  Yearbooks 
of  the  National  Society  for  the  Study  of  Education  (Chicago:  University  of  Chicago 
Press);  School  Survey  of  Grand  Rapids,  Michigan  (i9i6),pp.  129-46;  Survey  of  St.  Louis 
Public  Schools  (1917),  pp.  213-58. 


INTRODUCTION  AND  SURVEY  OF  PREVIOUS  STUDIES       3 

marked  periodicity  in  development  which  is  common  to  the  various 
school  systems  in  which  tests  have  been  made.  So  far  as  the 
development  of  the  child's  inherent  ability  is  the  determining 
factor,  both  form  and  speed  improve  at  a  fairly  constant  rate. 

When  we  examine  an  individual  school  or  even  a  school  system, 
on  the  other  hand,  we  find  deviations  from  this  rule.  These  devia- 
tions most  commonly  consist  in  differences  in  the  relative  advance- 
ment in  the  two  characteristics  of  form  and  speed.  In  one  school, 
for  example,  the  form  will  be  found  to  improve  most  rapidly  in  the 
lower  grades  and  the  speed  in  the  upper  grades,  while  in  another 
school  the  relation  is  reversed. 

Besides  these  differences  in  the  periodicity  of  advancement, 
there  are  marked  variations  among  different  school  systems  in  their 
degree  of  attainment  in  writing.  In  one  large  school  system  which 
was  investigated  the  eighth-grade  children  did  not  write  as  well  as 
the  sixth-grade  children  in  anofj^r  system.  Still  more  marked 
differences  may  be  found  between  different  schools  in  the  same  city. 

These  marked  variations  in  the  ability  of  children  in  different 
cities  or  schools  indicate  that  some  teachers  are  more  successful 
than  others  in  the  methods  which  they  pursue.  They  indicate 
further  that  it  is  possible  to  discover  what  the  more  efficient  methods 
are  and  to  apply  them  to  the  improvement  of  the  teaching  of 
writing.  It  would  be  possible  to  investigate  the  difference  between 
efxicient  and  inefficient  methods  by  making  a  minute  study  of  those 
methods  pursued  in  places  where  writing  is  taught  well  and  com- 
paring them  with  the  methods  where  it  is  taught  poorly.  This 
method  of  investigation,  however,  would  merely  enable  us  to 
judge  between  the  systems  of  teaching  which  are  already  in  exist- 
ence. 

A  method  of  investigation  which  is  more  fundamental  in 
character,  because  it  is  based  primarily  upon  the  activity  of  writing 
instead  of  existing  methods  of  teaching,  is  a  study  of  the  varia- 
tions in  the  writing  habit  itself.  AH  the  surveys  of  writing,  as  of 
the  other  school  subjects,  have  revealed  a  tremendous  variation 
in  the  ability  of  different  children  of  the  same  age  and  grade. 
The  fundamental  cause  of  these  individual  differences  is  undoubt- 
edlv  to  be  found   in   differences   in   natural   ability.     Individual 


4  THE  HANDWRITING  MOVEMENT 

differences  may  be  reduced  very  considerably  in  amount,  however, 
as  is  indicated  by  the  fact  that  they  are  greater  in  some  school 
systems  than  they  are  in  others. 

An  example  of  the  influence  which  teaching  exerts  upon  indi- 
vidual differences  is  to  be  found  in  the  relationship  between  speed 
and  form  in  writing.  If  we  test  all  the  pupils  of  a  grade  in  both 
these  characteristics  we  find  that  many  types  of  relationship  exist. 
There  are  some  pupils  who  write  rapidly  and  form  their  letters 
well.  There  are  others  who  write  slowly  and  well.  There  are 
pupils  who  write  rapidly  and  poorly  and  those  who  write  slowly 
and  poorly,  and  the  list  might  be  extended  to  include  all  the 
possible  combinations.  If  now  we  compare  the  number  of  pupils 
in  these  various  possible  groups  we  find  that  in  some  school  sys- 
tems there  are  more  pupils  who  write  rapidly  and  poorly  than  there 
are  who  write  rapidly  and  well;  and  there  are  more  who  write 
slowly  and  well  than  slowly  and  poorly.  In  other  words,  there  is 
an  opposition  between  the  characteristics  of  speed  and  form,  and 
the  higher  degree  of  either  of  these  two  qualities^Ts  attained  at 
some  sacrifice  of  the  other.  In  other  school  systems,  on  the  con- 
trary, this  opposition  does  not  appear.  Those  pupils  who,  as  a 
group,  write  rapidly  have  as  high  a  score  in  form  as  those  who 
write  slowly.  Evidently  not  only  the  degree  of  attainment  but 
also  the  type  of  attainment  at  which  the  pupil  shall  aim,  or  which 
he  shall  reach,  is  amenable  to  the  influence  of  teaching.  We  are 
justified,  therefore,  in  setting  up  standards  which  shall  determine 
both  the  attainment  we  should  expect  of  the  child  in  his  writing 
achievement  as  a  whole  and  also  the  relation  which  should  be  kept 
between  achievement  in  the  two  elements  of  form  and  speed. 
These  variations  make  very  insistent  the  problems  of  efficiency  in 
writing  and  the  best  means  of  attaining  it. 


/ 


THE   RESULTS   OF   PREVIOUS    STUDIES    OF    THE    WRITING   ACTIVITY 

SUMMARY 

Previous  laboratory  studies  have  shown  that  the  writing  movement 
is  a  complex  and  dehcate  co-ordination.  The  thumb  and  the  first  two 
fingers  exert  continually  varying  degrees  of  pressure  upon  the  penholder 
as  the  different  strokes  of  the  letters  are  produced.     The  movement  of 


/    / 


INTRODUCriON  AND  SURVEY  OF  PREVIOUS  STUDIES        5 

the  fingers  and  of  the  hand  and  arm  are  combined  in  a  complex  manner. 
Some  of  these  component  elements  of  the  movement  are  more  prominent 
in  some  individuals,  and  others  are  more  prominent  in  other  individuals, 
but  each  element  has  its  characteristic  part  to  play.  The  formation  of  the 
letter  is  attended  by  a  seriec  of  fine  pressure  changes  of  the  pen  upon  the 
paper.  \s  the  writer  acquires  skill  he  comes  to  make  particular  letter 
forms  with  the  characteristic  pressure  changes.  The  speed  of  move- 
ment of  the  pen  is  also  continually  changing,  and  these  changes  of  speed 
are  intimately  adapted  to  the  forms  of  the  letters  which  are  being 
written.  A  straight  stroke  increases  in  speed  toward  the  middle  and 
usually  decreases  toward  the  end.  When  the  direction  of  the  stroke  is 
changed  the  speed  is  reduced.  Long  strokes  are  made  with  greater 
speed  than  short  strokes,  with  the  result  that  strokes  widely  differing  in 
length  may  be  made  in  the  same  or  nearly  the  same  length  of  time. 
This  is  a  manifestation  of  the  disposition  to  rhythm  which  is  characteristic 
of  so  many  activities.  The  speed  of  a  writing  stroke  is  also  affected  by 
the  complexity  of  the  stroke  itself  and  by  the  complexity  of  the  strokes 
which  follow  it.  Pen  movements  can  be  made  more  rapidly  in  some 
directions  than  in  others.  The  direction  of  most  rapid  movement  is  from 
lower  left  to  upper  right  and  the  opposite,  and  the  direction  of  slowest 
movement  is  from  upper  left  to  lower  right  and  the  opposite.  The  con- 
ditions of  writing  should  be  so  arranged  that  the  movement  from  the 
lower  left  to  the  upper  right  is  utilized.  As  a  child  grows  older  his 
writing  becomes  more  rhythmical,  the  succeeding  strokes  follow  one 
another  more  closely,  and  there  is  marked  increase  in  the  rapidity  and 
accuracy  of  the  writing  movement. 

There  are  three  general  aspects  of  the  writing  movement  which 
we  may  consider.  The  two  which  ordinarily  come  to  mind,  and 
to  which  the  teacher  of  writing  gives  chief  attention,  are  the  com- 
position of  the  movement  and  the  position  of  the  hand  and  arm. 
Composition  is  illustrated  by  the  distinction  between  the  finger 
movement  and  arm  movement,  and  hand  position  is  illustrated 
by  the  distinction  between  a  level  wrist  and  a  tilted  wrist.  The 
experimental  study  of  the  positions  or  types  of  composition  of  the 
movement  which  are  in  actual  use  gives  ground  for  conclusions 
regarding  the  types  which  should  be  taught. 

That  the  fingers  co-operate  in  an  intricate  and  delicate  manner 
has  been  shown  by  recording  the  pressure  which  is  exerted  upon 


6  THE  HANDWRITING  MOVEMENT 

the  penholder  b}-  the  thumb  and  the  first  and  second  fingers.' 
When  a  straight  downward  stroke  is  made,  the  forefinger  exerts 
the  chief  pressure,  the  thumb  and  second  finger  guiding.  When 
the  stroke  curves  to  the  left,  the  middle  finger  exerts  greater  pres- 
sure than  the  thumb.  The  difference  between  the  production  of  a 
loop  and  a  straight  return  stroke  lies  in  a  little  extra  pressure  by 
the  thumb  or  the  second  finger.  Evidently  the  part  which  the 
fingers  play  in  letter  formation  is  an  important  one,  unless  the 
finger  movements  are  eliminated  by  drill,  which  the  present  study 
shows  to  be  very  infrequent. 

That  the  part  which  the  fingers  play  in  writing  cannot  be 
disregarded  is  shown  by  another  study^  and  by  further  evidence 
in  the  present  investigation.  The  share  which  the  fingers  have  in 
driving  the  pen  is  recorded  by  means  of  an  instrument,  called  the 
hand  tracer,  which  is  attached  to  the  outer  side  of  the  hand,  and 
which  records  by  means  of  a  pen  or  pencil  the  movements  of  the 
hand  in  writing.  By  comparing  this  record  with  the  writing  itself 
it  is  possible  to  determine  how  much  is  done  by  the  hand  and 
how  much  by  the  fingers.  No  case  was  reported  in  which  all  the 
work  of  forming  the  letters  was  performed  by  the  hand  and  arm. 
In  some  cases  the  part  played  by  the  fingers  was  less  than  in  others, 
but  in  no  case  was  it  negligible.  The  present  investigation  has 
studied  the  relation  of  the  finger  and  arm  movements  further 
by  compihng  statistics  of  the  relation  of  arm  movement  (i)  to  the 
pupil's  age,  (2)  to  the  type  of  training  he  has  received,  and  (3)  to 
the  excellence  of  his  writing. 

The  effect  of  the  hand  or  arm  position  on  writing  has  been  the 
subject  of  but  one  scientific  experiment.  This  study  dealt  with 
the  effect  of  the  pronation  of  the  hand  on  the  slant  of  the  writing. 
As  the  hand  moves  toward  .the  right  side  of  the  page  the  pen  slants 
more  and  more  toward  the  right,  causing  an  increase  in  the  slant 
of  the  letters  unless  the  tendency  is  counteracted  in  some  way. 
A  group  of  adults  were  set  the  task  of  making  the  slant  of  their 

■  G.  Obici,  "Ricerche  sulla  Fisiologia  deUa  Scrittura,"  Rhista  spcrimentale  di 
frenUica  e  medicina  legale  delta  alienazioni  menlale,  XXIII  (1897),  623  and  870. 

^  C.  H.  Judd,  Genelic  Psychology  for  Teachers.  New  York:  D.  Appleton 
&  Co. 


INTRODUCTION  AND  SURVEY  OF  PREVIOUS  STUDIES        7 

writing  uniform  across  the  page,  and  it  was  found  upon  examining 
the  methods  they  adopted  to  secure  this  end  that  a  number  of  them 
had  formed  the  habit  of  gradually  turning  the  hand  palrcLilown 
(pronation).  So  far~as  the  writer  is  aware,  this  method  has  never 
been  taught  to  pupils  in  the  schools.  It  is  commonly  assumed 
that  there  is  one  position  of  the  hand,  or  slope  of  the  wrist,  which 
is  the  best,  and  that  this  is  to  be  kept  uniform.  Other,  rather 
clumsy,  devices  are  sometimes  used  to  keep  the  slant  of  the  writing 
uniform.  The  commonest,  so  far  as  the  writer's  observation 
goes,  is  to  teach  the  pupil  to  ^if t  the  position  of  the  paper  toward 
th^Jeft^  intervals  while  the  lineTs  being  wriLLen'  The  conclusions 
from  the  expefimuTTt'lDirprona^tion  accord^wTtirthe  view  that  some 
adjustment  in  hand  position  is  desirable  in  order  that  the  hand 
may  adapt  itself  to  varying  demands  and  conditions.  With  this 
conclusion  the  result  of  the  present  study  will  be  found  to  agree. 
Beyond  this  an  attempt  will  be  made  to  evaluate  various  hand  and 
arm  positions  by  comparing  the  positions  assumed  by  good  and 
poor  writers. 

The  composition  of  the  writing  movement,  and  the  hand  and 
arm  position,  affect  the  manner  in  which  the  pen  point  is  actuated. 
We  may,  in  the  third  place,  analyze  the  characteristics  of  the  pen 
movement  itself  without  regard  to  its  method  of  production.  The 
two  aspects  of  the  movement  of  the  pen  which  have  been  studied 
are  the  changes  in  the  pressure  which  it  exerts  upon  the  paper  and 
in  its  speed.  Studies  of  the  pressure  changes  in  writing  bear  upon 
the  present  study  only  indirectly,  but  their  general  outcome  may 
be  summarized.  The  method  of  experimentation  on  pressure  is 
to_have  the  subject  write  upon  a  balance  which  is  sensitive  enough 
to  recorH  the  ordinary  variations  in  pressure.  The  hand  is  sup- 
ported upon  a  solid  table  and  only  the  pen  bears  upon  the  balance.' 
Two  contrasted  points  of  view  concerning  the  changes  in  the  writing 
movement  which  accompany  the  development  of  the  habit  have 
arisen  from  the  studies  of  pressure,  and  apply  also  to  changes  in 

'A.  Diehl,  "Ueber  die  Eigenschaften  der  Schrift  bei  Gesunden,"  Psychologische 
Arbeiten,  III  (1901),  1-61;  F.  N.  Freeman,  Preliminary  Experiments  in  Writing 
Reactions,  Psychological  Monograph,  VIII  (1907),  No.  29,  301-33;  A.  Goldscheider, 
"Zur  Physiologic  und  Pathologic  der  Handschrift,"  Arch.  f.  Psychiatric,  XXIV 
(1892),  503-25. 


8  THE  HANDWRITING  MOVEMENT 

speed.  The  first  is  held  by  several  German  investigators/  who 
describe  the  writing  of  the  beginner  as  consisting  of  a  succession 
of  independent  strokes,  each  made  by  a  separate  nervous  impulse. 
This  conception  arose  from  the  observation  that  the  pressure  of  the 
writing  of  beginners  indicated  a  pronounced  pressure  impulse 
corresponding  to  each  downstroke.  In  the  case  of  the  practiced 
writer  the  pressure  was  found  to  be  continuous  from  stroke  to 
stroke,  to  rise  to  maximum  toward  the  middle  of  a  series  of  strokes, 
and  to  gradually  fall  from  this  culminating  point  toward  the  end. 
The  writing  of  the  adult  was  described  as  proceeding  from  a  total 
impulse  rather  than  from  a  series  of  single  impulses. 

An  American  study^  reports  a  dififerent  situation.  The  pres- 
sure exerted  by  children  was  found  to  be  as  continuous  as  that 
exerted  by  adults,  and  there  was  nowhere  found  a  clearly  marked, 
pronounced  series  of  impulses  on  the  downstrokes,  separated  by 
almost  entire  release  of  pressure.  The  explanation  of  this  differ- 
ence may  lie  in  the  form  and  construction  of  the  letters  in  the 
German  and  EngHsh  script  (compare  the  /OOly  and   ^^^'^'^  ). 

More  productive  than  the  study  of  pressure  changes  has  been 
the  measurement  of  changes  in  speed  from  one  part  to  another  of 
the  writing  stroke.  The  writing  stroke  does  not  proceed  at  a 
uniform  rate  of  speed,  and  the  variations  in  speed  can  be  detected 
and  correlated  with  certain  facts,  the  form  of  the  letters  being 
among  the  most  important. 

Five  different  methods  of  measuring  writing  speed  in  detail  have 
been  used,  but  only  the  two  which  were  employed  in  this  investiga- 
tion will  be  described  in  this  report.  Descriptions  of  the  other 
methods  are  to  be  found  in  the  reports  referred  to  in  the  footnote.-^ 

'  E.  ^leumann,  Vorlcsiingcn  zur  EinJUhning  in  die  Expcrimcnklle  Pddagogik, 
Vol.  Ill,  Chap.  XVIII. 

*  F.  N.  Freeman,  An  Experimental  Study  of  Handwriting,  Psychological  Mono- 
graph, 1914,  No.  75. 

3  A.  Binet  and  Courtier,  "Sur  la  vitesse  des  mouvements  graphiques,"  Rev.  Phil., 
XXXV  (1893),  664-71;  F.  N.  Freeman,  Preliminary  Experitnents  in  Writing  Reac- 
tions, Psychological  Monograph,  VIII,  No.  29;  \V.  R.  Jack,  "The  Analj'sis  of  Volun- 
tary Muscular  Movements  by  Certain  New  Instruments,"  Journal  of  Anatomy  and 
Physiology,  XXIX  (1895),  473-79;  C.  N.  Mc.Vllister,  Researches  on  Movements  Used  in 
Writing,  Studies  from  Yale  Psychological  Laboratory,  VIII  (1900),  21-63. 


INTRODUCTION  AND  SURVEY  OF  PREVIOUS  STUDIES        9 


Previous  to  the  beginning  of  the  present  study  the  general 
nature  of  the  speed  changes  in  writing  had  been  discovered.  Con- 
sider, to  begin  with,  a  form  of  writing  which  is  simpler  than  the 
production  of  letters,  in  order  to  gain  a  clear  idea  of  the  funda- 
mental principles  that  govern  the  speed  changes  in  writing.  If 
one  makes  a  single  straight  line  or  stroke  with  the  pen  it  will  be 
found  by  measuring  the 
speed  of  the  pen  point 
throughout  the  course  of 
the  stroke  that  it  is  not 
uniform.  The  stroke 
gradually  gathers  speed  at 
the  beginning  and  gradu- 
ally loses  speed  at  the 
end,  until  it  comes  to  a 
full  stop.  If  an  instru- 
ment is  arranged  so  that 
a  strip  of  paper  moves 
underneath  the  sheet  on 
which  the  writing  is  done, 
with  a  typewriter  ribbon 
between  the  two  in  order 
to  take  a  tracing  of  the 
movement,  the  manner  in 
which  the  pen  movement 
accelerates  and  retards 
may  be  displayed  graphi- 
cally and  measured.  In 
making  a  straight  vertical  line,  if  the  speed  of  the  movement  were 
uniform  throughout  the  stroke,  the  traced  record  would  show  a 
straight  oblique  line,  as  shown  in  Fig.  lA.  But  what  we  actually 
get  is  a  curved  line  which  slopes  more  sharply  at  the  middle  than 
at  the  ends,  as  shown  in  Fig.  iB. 

The  same  characteristic  may  also  be  shown  by  another  method. 
We  may  write  with  an  instrument  which  does  not  trace  a  con- 
tinuous line  but  which  makes  a  succession  of  punctures  in  the  paper 
by  means  of  a  needle  driven  forward  at  the  rate  of  1,000  strokes  a 


Fig.  I. — Illustrations  of  graphic  methods  of 
recording  the  speed  of  writing  strokes. 


lo  THE  HANDWRITING  MOVEMENT 

minute.  Or  we  may  use  a  pen  which  is  connected  with  an  induction 
coil  so  that  it  throws  off  electric  sparks  in  rapid  succession.  If  we 
write  with  such  a  pen  on  smoked  paper,  the  sparks  make  a  series  of 
dots  on  the  paper.  With  either  of  these  devices  the  speed  of  the 
writing  stroke  is  indicated  by  the  distance  between  the  points  on 
the  paper.  If  the  speed  were  uniform  the  dots  would  be  an  equal 
distance  apart  throughout  the  stroke,  as  shown  in  Fig.  iC;  but 
instead  we  find  the  dots  crowded  together  at  each  end  and  spread 
out  in  the  middle,  as  shown  in  Fig.  iD. 

This  characteristic  of  the  writing  movement  might  have  been 
predicted  from  the  general  principle  of  inertia,  that  the  applica- 
tion of  a  constant  force  to  a  mass  originally  at  rest  produces  an 
accelerated  motion,  and  that  the  application  of  a  constant  force  in 
opposition  to  a  mass  in  motion  produces  a  gradually  retarded 
motion.  The  hand  or  fingers  and  the  pen  are  the  masses  to  be 
moved  and  the  muscular  contraction  constitutes  the  force. 

If  we  make  a  series  of  strokes  instead  of  a  single  stroke  we 
find  the  same  acceleration  at  the  beginning  and  retardation  at 
the  end  of  the  strokes,  but  modified  by  the  fact  that  in  most  cases 
the  pen  does  not  completely  stop  at  the  end  of  each  stroke.  Certain 
investigators  have  stated  the  law  thus:  The  amount  of  retardation 
in  speed  at  a  point  where  a  stroke  changes  its  direction,  or  where 
a  new  stroke  begins,  is  proportional  to  the  amount  of  angular  change 
in  direction.  This  law  holds  roughly,  and  would  hold  completely 
if  the  writing  stroke  were  governed  solely  by  mechanical  prin- 
ciples; but  there  are  other  conditions  also  which  govern  the  speed 
changes  in  writing. 

Perhaps  the  most  important  of  these  additional  principles  is  the 
principle  of  rhythm.  Writing  is  not  alone  in  its  subjection  to 
rhythm.  The  involuntary  bodily  activities,  such  as  breathing, 
the  beating  of  the  heart,  alternation  of  sleep  and  wakefulness,  are 
regular  in  their  recurrence.  It  has  long  been  known  that  work 
can  be  performed  with  less  fatigue  and  greater  precision  whjen  it  is 
done  rhythmically.  It  has  been  discovered  also  that  the  practiced 
writer  exhibits  a  considerable  degree  of  rhythm  in  his  writing. 
For  example,  if  we  compare  the  speed  with  which  the  different 
letters  of  the  alphabet  are  written  with  the  length  of  the  line  which 


INTRODUCTION  AND  Si'RVEV  OF  PREVIOUS  STUDIES      i  r 

the  pen  traces  in  making  them,  we  shall  ftnd  a  close  correspondence 
between  the  two.  The  letters  haying_the  ]ong£StJines  are  generally 
made  with  the  most  speed,  those  having  shortest  lines  with  the 
leasts  As  a  consequence  the  longer  letters  are  made  in  nearly  the 
same  length  of  time  as  the  shorter  ones. 

Some  investigation  of  the  development  of  rhythm  in  the  writ- 
ing of  the  child  was  made  previous  to  the  study  here  reported  in 
some  detail.  In  general,  rhythm,  in  the  sense  of  an  approach  to 
equality  in  the  time  taken  to  write  successive  strokes,  increases 
markedly  as  the  child  grows  older  and  acquires  greater  skill. 
Rhythm  in  this  sense,  then,  is  a  mark  of  maturity  and  practice. 
By  means  of  drill  the  pupil's  writing  may  be  made  more  rhyth- 
mical, and  if  the  rate  which  is  chosen  is  not  beyond  the  pupil's 
capacity  and  stage  of  development  his  writing  becomes  better 
co-ordinated,  with  no  deterioration  of  form  as  a  result.' 

It  has  been  held^  that  another  mark  of  distinction  between  the 
writing  of  the  child  and  the  adult  is  a  more  marked  separation 
between  the  strokes  of  the  child's  than  of  the  adult's  writing.  The 
child  is  said  to  write  a  word  with  a  series  of  separate  nervous 
impulses  or  innervations  and  the  adult  with  a  total  nervous  impulse 
or  innervation.  This  opinion  was  derived  from  a  study  of  the 
pressure  records  from  individuals  who  wrote  German  script.  In 
an  earlier  study^  the  writer  did  not  find  a  greater  continuity  in 
adult  than  in  children's  writing.  The  former  study  dealt  with  only 
a  small  number  of  individuals,  and  its  conclusion  is  contradicted 
by  the  present  study.  So  far  as  the  speed  changes  are  concerned 
it  may  be  taken  as  established  that  the  child's  writing  movement  is 
divided  more  markedly  into  a  series  of  separate  or  distinct  move- 
ments than  is  the  writing  of  the  older  person.  The  interpretation 
of  this  fact  we  shall  discuss  below. 

There  is  another  aspect  of  the  mature  person's  writing  of  con- 
nected words  which  can  be  interpreted  as  due  to  the  withdrawal  of 

■  M.  K.  Smith,  "Rhythmus  und  Arbeit,"  Philosophischc  Sludicn.  XVI  (1903),  71; 
D.  .\\vramofif,  "  Arbeit  und  Rhythmus,"  Psychologischc  Arbcikn,  XMII  (1903),  515-62. 

'  E.  Meumann,  Vorlesungen  zur  Einfiihrung  in  die  Ex  peri  men  telle  Pddagogik, 
\o\.  Ill,  Chap.  XVIII. 

^  F.  N.  Freeman,  An  Experimental  Study  of  Handwriting,  Psychological  Mono- 
graph, 1914,  Xo.  75. 


12  THE  HANDWRITING  MOVEMENT 

the  attention  from  the  minute  portion  of  the  stroke  being  made 
at  the  moment.  When  letters  are  connected  in  a  word,  or  even 
when  strokes  are  connected  in  a  letter,  the  speed  of  the  stroke  is 
affected  not  only  by  the  form  or  length  of  the  stroke  itself  but  also 
by  the  character  of  the  preceding  and  following  strokes.  A  simple 
experiment  in  drawing  lines  brings  out  this  interdependence  of 
successive  strokes.  If  we  ask  a  person  to  draw  lines  at  a  given 
signal,  each  time  starting  as  rapidly  as  possible,  we  find  that  the 
length  of  time  which  is  required  to  start  is  affected  by  the  number 
of  conditions  we  place  upon  the  movement.  If  the  length  of  the 
first  line  is  not  determined  and  its  direction  is  determined  only  by  a 
guiding  straightedge,  if  the  second  line  is  required  to  be  drawn 
to  a  given  point,  and  the  third  line  to  be  the  beginning  of  a  diamond- 
shaped  figure,  the  starting-time  of  the  three  lines  will  be  very 
different.  It  will  take  decidedly  longer  to  begin  the  line  to  be 
drawn  to  a  given  point  and  the  line  which  is  the  beginning  of  a 
diamond  than  it  will  to  begin  the  line  which  is  made  with  less 
restriction. 

A  similar  influence  of  subsequent  strokes  on  a  preceding  one 
may  be  illustrated  by  a  comparison  of  the  three  letters  a,  d,  and  g. 
The  first  stroke  of  each  of  these  letters  in  script  is  identical  with  the 
others  in  form  and  length,  and  yet  they  are  made  with  different 
speed.  The  first  stroke  of  a  is  the  slowest,  the  corresponding 
stroke  of  the  d  is  made  more  rapidly,  and  the  first  stroke  of  the  g 
is  made  more  rapidly  still.  The  stroke  in  each  case  is  but  the  part 
of  a  letter,  and  the  writer  has  the  whole  letter  in  mind  when  he 
writes  each  stroke.  Since,  according  to  the  general  principle  laid 
down  in  another  paragraph,  there  is  a  disposition  to  make  the 
various  letters  in  the  same  length  of  time,  each  part  of  the  letter  is 
modified  as  may  be  necessary  to  bring  this  about.  The  attention 
of  the  mature  writer  is  more  inclusive  in  its  scope  than  that  of  the 
child,  and  this  causes  modifications  in  the  details  of  the  strokes.  As 
we  shall  see  in  the  later  description  of  the  results  of  this  experiment, 
this  modification  in  the  speed  of  the  strokes  also  produces  a  modifi- 
cation in  the  form  of  the  letters. 

It  may  be  seen  from  this  brief  account  of  the  results  of  previous 
studies  of  the  speed  changes  within  letters  and  words  that  we 


INTRODUCTION  AND  SURVEY  OF  PREVIOUS  STUDIES      13 

have  here  a  characteristic  which  is  a  very  important  element  of  the 
writing  activity,  and  which  throws  unexpected  light  on  the  causes 
of  the  form  of  letters  and  even  on  the  mental  processes  which 
accompany  the  writing  act.  The  further  investigation  of  these 
speed  changes  is  one  of  the  chief  problems  in  the  present  investiga- 
tion. 

Three  other  studies  of  the  speed  of  hand  movements  ha\'e  some 
bearing  on  writing,  and  their  results  may  be  briefly  described.' 
The  aim  of  these  studies  was  to  discover  the  direction  in  which  hand 
movements  similar  to  those  used  in  writing  can  be  made  most  easily. 
The  general  conclusion  of  these  studies  is  that  a  movement  from 
the  lower  left-hand  corner  to  the  upper  right-hand  corner  of  the 
desk,  forming  an  angle  of  about  30°  with  the  front  edge  of  the  desk, 
is  the  direction  of  the  most  rapid  and  easiest  movement.  This  is 
the  direction  in  which  the  sideward  movement  of  the  hand  or  fore- 
arm carries  the  pen  when  the  arm  is  in  the  usual  writing  position  and 
corresponds  to  the  direction  of  the  base  line  when  the  paper  is 
tilted  the  usual  amount  to  the  left,  30°.  It  was  proposed  by  Wood- 
worth  to  use  this  movement  in  making  the  up  and  down  strokes  of 
the  letters  by  tilting  the  paper  about  60°  to  the  right,  but  this 
necessitates  an  awkward  movement  of  drawing  the  arm  backward 
continually  in  passing  from  letter  to  letter. 

One  way  of  utilizing  this  free  side  sweep  of  the  arm  and  hand 
seems  to  be  to  place  the  arm  perpendicular  to  the  base  line  of 
the  writing  so  that  the  hand  may  move  freely  along  the  line.  The 
present  study  shows  this  position  to  be  advantageous.  This 
requires  the  paper  to  be  tilted,  and  indirectly  requires  the  writing 
to  be  slanted.  If  it  did  not  slant,  the  up  and  down  strokes  would 
take  a  direction  from  the  upper  left-hand  to  the  lower  right-hand 
corner  of  the  desk,  which  was  found  to  be  the  most  difficult  of  all. 

Certain  experimental  facts  concerning  the  improNement  of 
children's  ability  in  making  movements  in  general,  and  particularly 
writing  movements,  have  a  bearing  on  the  organization  of  a  course 

'  C.  N.  Mcx\llister,  Researches  on  Movements  Used  in  Writing,  Studies  from  the 
Yale  Psychological  Laboratory,  VIII  (1900),  21-63;  V>.  P.  McMillan,  Report  of  Child- 
Study  Department  and  Pedagogical  Investigation,  Chicago,  1902-3;  R.  S.  Woodworth, 
The  Accuracy  of  Voluntary  Movement,  Psychological  Review  Monograph  Supplement, 
III  (1899),  No.  13. 


14  THE  HANDWRITING  MOVEMENT 

in  penmanship.  Such  an  organization  has  been  undertaken  as  a 
part  of  the  present  study  for  the  purpose  of  testing  these  conclusions 
experimentally.  The  results  of  the  studies'  of  all  phases  of  motor 
ability  are  uniform  in  their  general  indication  of  a  marked  growth 
in  abihty  as  the  child  grows  older.  This  is  true  of  the  abihty  to 
hold  the  hand  steady,  to  make  accurate  movements,  and  to  respond 
quickly  to  a  signal.  Every  indication  points  to  the  necessity  of 
making  small  demands  on  the  young  child  in  respect  to  both  the 
accuracy  and  the  speed  of  the  writing  movement. 

'  W.  L.  Bryan,  "On  the  Development  of  Motor  Ability,"  American  Journal  of 
Psychology,  V  (1892),  125-204;  F.  N.  Freeman,  "Current  Methods  of  Teaching 
Handwriting,"  Elementary  School  Teacher,  XIII  (1912),  32;  J.  A.  Gilbert,  Researches 
on  the  Mental  and  Physical  Development  of  School  Children,  Yale  Psychological  Studies, 

II  (1894),  64;  J.  A.  Hancock,  "A  Preliminary  Study  of  Motor  Ability,"  Ped.  Sem., 

III  (1894),  9,  29. 


CHAPTER  II 

THE  METHODS  AND  APPARATUS  OF  THE  MOTION-PICTURE 

STUDY 

SUMMARY   OF   THE  ENTIRE  ANALYTICAL  EXPERIMENT  DESCRIBED  IN 
DETAIL    IN   CHAPTERS    II    TO    V' 

Motion-picture  photographs  make  possible  the  accurate  study  of 
the  hand  and  arm  positions  in  writing,  of  the  grosser  movements  of  the 
hand,  and  of  the  finer  changes  in  speed.  Records  can  be  made  from  the 
photographs  by  projecting  them  upon  the  screen  and  drawing  the  outUne 
of  the  hand  from  the  projected  image.  By  comparing  the  drawings  of 
the  hands  which  are  made  at  set  places  in  the  writing,  the  hand  move- 
ments which  take  place  between  the  positions  represented  in  the  draw- 
ings can  be  indicated. 

The  speed  of  movement  of  the  pen  can  be  measured  by  recording  the 
distance  which  the  pen  point  travels  during  each  exposure  of  the  camera 
or  from  one  exposure  to  the  next,  and  a  speed  curve  can  be  constructed 
by  plotting  these  successive  distances  on  a  chart.  In  the  more  extensive 
field  study  mechanical  devices  were  used  which  made  it  possible  to 
measure  the  relative  amount  of  arm  and  finger  movement  and  to  record 
the  speed  changes  of  writing. 

In  the  intensive  study  by  the  motion-picture  method  a  comparison 
of  the  hand  position  and  movement  of  the  following  groups  was  made: 
First,  the  three  poorest  and  the  one  best  writer  of  each  grade  in  the 
University  Elementary  School,  from  the  second  to  the  seventh,  inclusive ; 
second,  the  four  poorest  and  the  four  best  writers  of  the  fourth  and  the 
eighth  grades  of  a  public  school;  and,  third,  seven  good  and  eight  poor 
adult  writers.  The  results  of  these  comparisons  are  first  presented  by 
describing  in  detail  a  number  of  illustrative  cases.  The  entire  results 
are  then  presented  in  the  form  of  tables,  and  the  conclusions  are  drawn 
from  these  complete  data. 

The  study  of  hand  position  deals  first  with  the  degree  to  which  the 
hand  is  held  with  the  palm  facing  downward,  or  the  degree  to  which  it  is 
turned  over  toward  the  right  so  that  the  wrist  is  incUned.  The  public- 
school  writers  who  had  been  trained  in  holding  their  wrists  level  and 

'  Summaries  of  parts  of  the  discussion  are  also  given  on  pp.  64,  71,  and  94  of 
Chap.  Ill;   pp.  105  and  116  of  Chap.  IV;   and  p.  125  of  Chap.  V. 

15 


i6  THE  HANDWRITING  MOVEMENT 

the  children  who  had  been  given  the  experimental  training  course  in 
connection  with  this  experiment  held  their  wrists  more  nearly  level 
than  did  the  other  children.  Good  writers  can  be  trained  to  hold  their 
wrists  level  somewhat  more  easily  than  can  poor  ones.  This  feature  of 
position  is  of  particular  significance  in  connection  with  the  manner  in 
which  the  hand  is  supported.  It  is  characteristic  of  good  writers  to 
support  their  hands  upon  the  third  and  fourth  fingers,  while  poor  writers 
more  frequently  allow  their  hands  to  rest  upon  the  side.  The  third 
element  of  position  is  the  angle  of  the  arm  with  the  line  of  writing. 
The  forearm  should  be  held  nearly  at  right  angles  to  the  base  line  of  the 
letters.  These  three  items  of  position  are  organically  related  to  one 
another  in  that  they  have  a  bearing  upon  the  movement  of  the  hand 
across  the  page.  When  the  hand  is  kept  sufficiently  level  so  that  the 
fingers  can  slide  easily  upon  the  paper,  and  when  the  forearm  is  nearly 
at  right  angles  to  the  line  of  writing,  the  movement  across  the  page  can 
be  made  easily  and  fluently.  The  development  of  this  movement  was 
particularly  emphasized  in  the  organization  of  the  training  course.  The 
third  and  fourth  elements  of  position,  which  consist  in  the  angle  of  the 
penholder  with  the  strokes  of  the  writing  and  its  angle  with  the  arm,  do 
not  appear  to  be  particularly  important.  Two  others,  however — the  rela- 
tion of  the  fingers  to  the  thumb  in  the  grasp  of  the  penholder  and,  in 
general,  the  looseness  of  grasp  on  the  penholder — are  of  much  signifi- 
cance. The  forefinger  should  be  placed  on  the  penholder  nearer  the 
pen  point  than  the  thumb.  When  the  forefinger  is  drawn  up  so  as  to  be 
opposite  the  thumb,  or  above  it,  the  writing  is  nearly  always  poor.  The 
penholder  should  be  grasped  loosely  in  order  to  avoid  cramping  of  the 
hand. 

The  vai'ious  aspects  of  movement  were  studied  in  the  same  manner 
as  those  of  position.  The  movement  by  which  the  hand  is  carried  along 
the  line  was  considered  separately  from  the  movement  by  which  the 
letters  are  formed,  and  the  sideward  movement  within  words  was  dis- 
tinguished from  the  sideward  movement  between  woids.  The  hand  may 
be  carried  along  the  Une  from  letter  to  letter  or  from  word  to  word  in  a 
variety  of  ways.  The  entire  forearm  may  be  pivoted  at  the  elbow  or  at 
the  muscle  pad  in  the  forearm,  and  may  revolve  about  one  of  these 
points  as  a  center.  In  a  similar  manner  the  hand  may  revolve  about 
the  wrist  joint.  These  are  the  two  movements  which  prove  to  be 
the  most  efficient.  Other  movements  which  are  less  advantageous 
are  the  drawing  in  of  the  fingers  or  an  adjustment  within  the  hand  itself, 
turning  the  hand  over  toward  the  right  or  the  left  and  lifting  the  arm 


V,' 


METHODS  A  ND  A  PPA  R.[  TL'S  OF  MOTION -PICTURE  STUDY     1 7 

and  shifting  its  position.  The  sideward  movement  of  the  forearm  and 
of  the  wrist  is  the  one  which  can  be  carried  out  most  easily  while  the 
letters  are  being  produced.  The  other  movements  are  more  apt  to  be 
made  intermittently.  Lifting  the  arm  and  shifting  its  position  quite 
obviously  interrupts  the  formation  of  the  letters.  The  sideward  move- 
ments at  the  elbow  and  at  the  wrist  also  have  the  advantage  that  they 
do  not  get  the  hand  into  a  cramped  position. 

The  movements  by  which  the  letters  are  produced  may  be  classified 
into  those  of  the  whole  arm,  of  the  hand  as  a  whole,  of  the  wrist  joint, 
and  of  the  fingers.  None  of  the  classes  of  writers  who  were  examined 
wrote  without  finger  movement  and  all  classes  used  about  the  same 
percentage;  that  is,  good  writers  used  as  much  finger  movement  as 
poor  writers,  and  those  who  had  been  trained  in  the  use  of  the  arm 
movement  particularly  used  as  much  finger  movement  as  did  the  pupils 
who  had  not  been  so  trained.  The  writers  who  had  been  trained  in  the 
use  of  the  arm  movement  used  somewhat  less  hand  movement  and 
therefore  more  arm  movement  than  did  those  who  had  not  been  so 
trained.  The  child  cannot  acquire  the  arm  movement,  even  though  it 
is  made  a  direct  object  of  drill,  until  he  has  acquired  a  certain  amount  of 
maturity  and  skill.  A  moderate  degree  of  arm  movement,  however, 
will  follow  from  the  type  of  drill  which  was  given  in  the  present  study. 
This  drill  did  not  have  as  its  direct  purpose  the  development  of  arm 
movement  and  nothing  was  said  about  the  movement  of  the  arm  in  the 
course.  The  exercises  whicli_had_for_  their  purpose  the  development 
of  freedom  and  fluency  of  movement,  however,  resulted  in  the  acquire- 
ment of  a  certain  degree  of  movement  of  the  arm.  Contrary  to  the  pre- 
vailing opinion,  a  close  relation  was  not  found  to  exist  between  the 
degree  of  arm  movement  and  either  the  speed  or  the  form  of  the  writing. 
Such  degree  of  arm  movement  as  is  profitable  may  readily  be  devel- 
oped as  a  by-product  of  the  type  of  training  which  has  for  its  purpose  the 
development  of  fluent  and  easy  sideward  movement  of  the  hand  across 
the  page  and  does  not  requiie  the  great  emphasis  which  is  put  upon 
it  by  modern  systems  of  penmanship. 

The  analysis  of  the  speed-changes  in  writing  indicates  that  they 
are  an  important  factor  in  skill.  Every  writer  pauses  or  retards  the 
speed  of  his  stroke  at  intervals  during  the  word.  In  the  good  writer 
these  pauses  occupy  a  larger  percentage  of  the  writing  time  than  in  the 
poor  writer.  In  other  words,  the  good  writer  divides  the  total  move- 
ment into  units  to  a  greater  extent  than  does  the  poor  one.  This  dis- 
tinction is  clearly  brought  out  by  accurate  measurement  and  statistical 


i8  THE  HANDWRITING  MOVEMENT 

comparison.  The  successive  units  of  the  movement  are  not  more 
uniform  in  duration  in  the  poor  writer  than  in  the  good  writer,  contrary 
to  what  might  be  expected.  This  gross  type  of  rhythm  does  increase, 
however,  as  a  child  grows  older.  To  get  at  the  further  distinction  be- 
tween the  good  and  poor  writer  a  more  minute  examination  of  the  speed 
curves  is  necessary.  Such  examination  shows  that  there  is  a  very 
intimate  connection  between  the  changes  of  speed  and  the  form  of  the 
letters  which  are  to  be  produced.  If  the  changes  in  speed  are  not 
appropriate,  therefore,  the  form  will  be  modified  from  the  standard  in  a 
corresponding  manner.  The  good  writer,  furthermore,  makes  the  suc- 
cessive strokes  in  a  consistent  manner;  that  is,  the  strokes  which  are 
similar  in  form  are  made  with  similar  changes  in  speed.  A  very  abrupt 
stroke  does  not  alternate  with  a  stroke  which  increases  in  speed  gradu- 
ally, as  is  apt  to  be  the  case  with  the  poor  writer. 

ASPECTS   OF   WRITING   WHICH   MOTION   PICTURES   REVEAL 

The  advantage  of  the  motion-picture  method  of  studying  hand- 
writing is,  in  brief,  that  it  gives  the  most  complete  record  of  any 
method  thus  far  devised,  with  the  least  inconvenience  and  dis- 
traction to  the  writer.  The  most  significant  aspects  of  the  writing 
activity  are  the  position  of  the  arm,  hand,  and  fingers  in  relation 
to  the  writing,  the  changes  in  position  of  these  parts  as  the  writing 
proceeds,  and  the  variations  in  the  speed  of  the  writing  stroke, 
including  rhythm.  The  only  element  left  out  is  the  pressure 
exerted  by  the  fingers  or  by  the  pen.  The  author,  in  his  previous 
investigation,  found  this  the  least  significant  feature  of  the  writing 
movement  and  therefore  did  not  complicate  the  apparatus  by 
including  a  study  of  pressure  in  this  investigation. 

The  position  of  the  hand,  arm,  and  fingers  can  be  represented 
and  recorded  with  accuracy  by  motion  pictures.  The  motion 
picture  consists  in  a  series  of  photographs  taken  in  rapid  succession 
on  a  long  film.  Each  of  these  photographs  represents  theposrtign 
of  the  hand  at  a  particular  stage  of  the  movement.  After  the 
photograph  has  been  made,  any  of  these  individual  photographs 
can  be  projected  on  a  screen  and  retained  there  for  study  for  an 
indefinite  length  of  time.  We  are  thus  able,  so  to  speak,  to  catch  a 
movement  on  the  wing,  and  to  hold  it  for  study.  A  position  of  the 
hand  which  occupied  about  one-fortieth  of  a  second  can  be  studied 


METHODS  AND  APPARA TVS  OF  MOTION-PICTURE  STUDY     19 

for  an  hour.  Not  only  can  the  photograph  he  studied,  but  a  dia- 
gram can  be  traced  from  it,  and,  if  desired,  measurements  can  be 
made.  The  changes  in  position  from  certain  crucial  points  to  other 
crucial  points  can  be  examined.  For  example,  the  change  in  posi- 
tion from  the  top  to  the  bottom  of  a  letter,  or  from  the  beginning 
to  the  end  of  a  word,  indicating  the  type  of  movement  by  which  the 
intervening  strokes  were  made,  may  be  diagramed.  One  con- 
venient and  graphic  method  of  displaying  such  changes  in  position 
is  to  trace  the  two  positions  of  the  hand  on  the  same  figure. 

An  added  advantage  of  the  motion-picture  method  for  this 
study  is  that  the  positions  and  changes  in  position  are  shown  in  their 
relation  to  the  writing  itself,  since  each  photograph  includes  a  pic- 
ture of  all  the  writing  up  to  the  time  it  was  taken,  as  well  as  the 
hand  and  pen. 

This  means  of  recording-position  enables  us  to  study  with 
accuracy  the  variations  in  such  matters  as  grasp  of  the  pen,  degree 
of  levelness  of  the  wrist,  manner  in  which  the  hand  is  supported, 
and  the  angle  of  the  arm  to  the  base  line  of  writing.  These  features, 
again,  are  to  be  observed  in  relation  to  the  record  of  the  writing 
itself.  As  a  consequence  we  can  examine  the  effect  of  different 
methods  of  teaching  on  pen  holding  and  hand  position  and  can 
study  what  effect  different  positions  have  upon  the  excellence  of 
the  writing. 

Speed  changes  are  studied  equally  well  by  this  method.  The 
successive  photographs  are  taken  at  equal  intervals,  the  regularity 
of  movement  of  the  camera  being  checked  by  a  device  to  be  de- 
scribed below.  The  speed  of  the  movement  of  the  pen  is  therefore 
represented  by  .the  distance  through  which  it  travels  between  the 
exposures_of  the  camera.  The  position  of  the  pen  at  each  exposure 
can  be  easily  represented  upon  an  enlarged  tracing  of  the  writing, 
and  diagrams  can  be  made  from  this  to  represent  graphically  the 
speed  changes.  The  speed  changes,  as  well  as  the  hand  positions, 
are  represented  directly  in  connection  with  the  writing  itself. 

The  advantage  of  the  photographic  method  from  the  point  of 
view  of  naturalness  of  conditions  and  absence  of  distraction  is  that 
the  subject  writes  on  an  ordinary  desk,  with  no  machinery  except 
a  quiet  clock  on  the  desk  or  in  the  writer's  immediate  view,  and 


20  THE  HANDWRITING  MOVEMENT 

with  nothing  attached  to  his  hand  or  any  part  of  his_body.  The 
only  possible  sources  of  distraction  are  the  artificial  illumination, 
which  is  not  annoying,  the  moving  camera,  which  is  four  feet  or 
more  above  the  table  and  out  of  the  subject's  range  of  vision,  its 
supporting  framework,  and  the  general  atmosphere  of  an  experi- 
ment. Thie  observation  of  the  experimenters  is  that  the  subjects 
were  not  seriously  distracted,  and  that  the  conditions  of  the  experi- 
ment were  unusually  free  from  sources  of  distraction. 

APPARATUS  AND  TECHNIQUE 

In  order  to  secure  stability  and  uniformity  at  high  speed, 
it  was  necessary  to  use  a  good  camera,  a  lens  giving  a  sharply 
defined  image  with  sufficient  speed,  and  a  convenient  and  accurate 
focusing  device.  The  selection  of  a  camera  was  rendered  some- 
what difficult  by  the  stoppage  of  importation  on  account  of  the  war, 
but  a  used  camera  in  good  condition  of  one  of  the  better  makes, 
the  Urban,  was  finally  found.  With  this  camera  (Fig.  2,  i)  satis- 
factory photographs  at  a  rate  of  over  thirty  exposures  per  second 
have  been  taken  in  the  course  of  the  experiment.  Most  of  the 
photographs  have  been  taken  at  twenty-five  exposures  per  second, 
since  this  proved  to  be  sufficiently  rapid  in  most  cases.  The  rate 
at  which  motion  pictures  are  usually  taken  is  sixteen  per  second. 
The  more  rapid  rate  was  necessary  in  order  to  get  a  record  of  the 
details  of  the  movement. 

For  most  of  the  photographs  the  camera  was  driven  by  an 
electric  motor  (Fig.  2,  2).  The  shaft  of  the  motor  was  coupled 
directly  to  the  slow-speed  shaft  of  the  camera,  which  is  geared  so  as 
to  produce  one  exposure  per  revolution.  The  speed  of  the  motor 
was  regulated  by  a  rheostat  and  had  sufiicient  range  to  give  any 
speed  required.  A  speed  indicator  on  the  camera  enabled  the 
operator  to  set  the  rheostat  so  as  to  procure  approximately  the 
speed  desired. 

For  a  more  exact  determination  of  the  speed  of  the  camera  and 
as  a  check  on  the  uniformity  of  its  motion,  it  was  necessary  to 
devise  an  additional  means  of  measuring  the  rapidity  of  the  expo- 
sures. A  timer  of  the  sort  used  by  photographers  in  controlHng 
the  duration  of  exposures  in  printing  was  set  in  the  table  on  which 


METHODS  A  ND  A  PPA  IL\  TUS  OF  MOTION-PICTl 'RE  STL  D  Y      2  i 


Fig.  2. — General  view  of  the  photographic  apparatus  and  arrangement :   i ,  camera ; 
2,  motor;   3,  reflector  of  lamp. 


22  THE  HANDWRITING  MOVEMENT 

the  subject  wrote  with  the  dial  flush  with  the  surface.  This  clock 
was  included  in  all  the  photographs.  It  was  regulated  before 
being  used.  By  means  of  this  timer  it  was  possible  to  count  the 
number  of  exposures  during  successive  second  or  half-second 
intervals.  After  the  camera  had  gotten  under  way  its  speed  was 
found  to  be  remarkably  constant.  The  number  of  exposures  per 
second  frequently  did  not  vary  throughout  the  course  of  a  photo- 
graph, except  at  the  initial  acceleration  and  final  retardation,  and 
rarely  varied  more  than  one  exposure  during  a  record.  This  gives 
the  records  a  hmit  of  error  of  4  per  cent.  Siace  the  measurement 
of  the  records  is  relatively  less  precise  than  this  and  none  of  the 
conclusions  depend  on  as  high  a  degree  of  accuracy,-  the  per- 
formance of  the  camera  is  thus  indicated  to  be  entirely  satisfactory. 

It  would  not  have  been  possible,  without  a  much  more  elaborate 
mechanism,  to  keep  the  rate  of  exposure  exactly  uniform  from  one 
record  to  another.  One  of  the  obstacles  which  would  have  been 
difiticult  to  overcome  was  the  variation  in  the  electric  current  which 
drove  the  motor.  But  such  uniformity  was  fortunately  not  neces- 
sary. The  primary  object  of  the  experiment  was  not  to  compare 
the  speed  of  the  writing  of  different  individuals,  but  rather  to 
study  the  changes  in  speed  within  the  writing  of  each  individual 
and  to  compare  these  changes  among  different  individuals.  For 
this  purpose  all  that  was  necessary  was  uniformity  of  speed  within 
each  record,  and  this  was  secured.  If  it  was  desired  to  find  the 
average  speed  of  writing  of  any  individual,  it  could  be  done  by 
observing  the  distance  which  the  hand  on  the  timer  had  moved 
during  the  writing  of  any  specified  letters  or  words. 

The  lens  was  a  Zeiss-Tessar,  F  3  . 5,  3-inch  focal  distance.  This 
covered  an  area  of  12X16  inches  at  a  distance  of  4  feet,  the  size 
of  the  film  used  in  each  exposure  being  iXf  inch.  It  was  found 
unnecessary  to  use  the  full-sized  aperture,  and  in  the  later  photo- 
graphs a  somewhat  better  definition  was  secured  by  stopping 
down  to  about  F  8. 

The  camera  was  focused  by  means  of  a  tube  which  passed 
directly  through  it  and  exposed  the  image  to  view  on  a  piece  of 
developed  film  which  was  placed  on  the  spot  where  the  exposure -was 
to  be  made. 


METHODS  AND  A PPA R.\  TUS  OF  MOTION-PICTURE  STUDY     23 

The  camera  with  its  driving  mechanism  was  placed  vertically 
above  the  hand  of  the  subject.  The  general  arrangement  of  the 
apparatus  is  shown  in  Fig.  2.  The  chief  reason  for  the  choice  of 
this  position  was  that  it  gives  photographs  in  which  the  writing, 
the  hand,  and  all  the  objects  included  in  the  view  are  shown  in  their 
true  relative  proportions.  This  made  it  possible  to  compare  the 
length  of  lines,  distances  on  the  writing  or  on  the  iiand,. by  .direct 
measurement:  Furtherrhore,  this  position  made  it  possible  to  get 
aJlfitter  focus  over  the  whole  field.  In  the  case  of  all  but  one  writer 
it  gave  an  unrestricted  view  of  the  writing.  It  gave  a  view  of  the 
hand  from  which  it  was  possible  to  determine  fairly  well  the  posi- 
tion of  its  parts  and  the  nature  of  its  movement. 

In  the  later  photographs  the  view  of  the  hand  was  made  more 
complete  by  the  use  of  two  mirrors  silvered  on  the  front  surface. 
One  mirror  was  placed  at  an  angle  of  about  45°  to  the  table,  directly 
in  front  of  the  hand  and  parallel  to  the  base  line  of  the  writing. 
The  other  was  placed  in  a  similar  manner  to  the  left  of  the  hand 
and  parallel  to  the  left  edge  of  the  paper.  The  use  of  these  mirrors 
made  it  necessary  to  enlarge  the  field  by  raising  the  camera  to  a 
position^4  feet  8^  inches  above  the  table.  The  front  mirror  gave 
a  good  view  of  the  hand  in  respect  to  its  pronation  or  the  opposite, 
and  the  side  mirror  gave  a  good  view  of  the  backward  and  forward 
movements  of  the  fingers  and  of  the  manner  of  supporting  the  hand. 

The  ordinary  commercial  motion-picture  film  was  used  in 
making  the  negative;  the  negative  was  taken  to  a  commercial 
firm  to  be  developed,  and  this  film  was  used  in  the  study.  A  posi- 
tive film  would  have  given  a  much  more  realistic  picture,  but 
would  have  been  no  better  as  a  basis  for  the  drawings  and  the 
measurements,  and  would  have  added  considerably  to  the  expense. 

After  some  consideration  of  the  relative  advantages  of  artificial 
illumination  and  daylight,  artifiicial  illumination  was  chosen  for 
several  reasons.     First,  artificial  light  is  more  constant  and  depend- 


able, -  Secondly,  the  employment  of  daylight  would  necessitate 
ATOrking  out  of  doors,  and  this  would  subject  the  experiment  to  the 
vicissitudes  of  the  weather  and  confine  it  to  the  warmer  seasons. 
Thirdly,  it  was  necessary  to  mount  the  camera  on  a  stable  frame, 
and  this  necessitated  a  relatively  permanent  location.     Artificial 


24  THE  HAXDWRITING  MOVEMENT 

illumination  necessitated  some  additional  expense,  but  it  was 
justified  by  these  reasons. 

Three  forms  of  artificial  illumination  were  considered:  nitrogen 
lamps,  Cooper-Hewitt  mercury  lamps,  and  flaming  arc  lamps.  The 
nitrogen  lamps  were  excluded  because  of  their  excessive  heat  and 
their  uncomfortable  and  injurious  glare.  The  mercury  lamps  are 
very  expensive  and  fragile.  The  flaming  arc  "studio' '  lamps(Fig.  2, 
3)  were  found  to  be  much  more  satisfactory  than  the  nitrogen  lamps 
and  much  less  expensive  than  the  mercury  lamps.  They  furnish 
9,000  to  10,000  candle-power  each,  give  a  relatively  mild  violet- 
colored  light  which  is  not  unpleasant,  and  are  not  excessively  hot. 
On  warm  days  the  temperature  was  kept  comfortable  by  an  electric 
fan.  Two  of  these  lights  were  used,  one^^illuminating  each  side  of 
the  hand.  The  light  was  concentrated  by  means  of  reflectors 
"Hirected  downward  at  an  angle  of  45°. 

After  the  photographs  were  taken  it  was  necessary  to  project 
them  upon  a  screen  for  study.  In  a  preHminary  experiment  this 
was  done  by  means  of  an  ordinary  stereopticon  lantern.  But 
this  method,  while  it  served  for  the  separate  study  of  the  indi- 
vidual exposures,  did  not  make  it  possible  to  get  the  motion- 
picture  effect  which  was  found  to  be  desirable  in  the  first  inspection 
of  the  records.  Accordingly  one  of  the  cheaper  projection  machines, 
the  Optigraph,  was  bought,  and  a  coohng  bath  and  an  attachment 
to  facilitate  the  study  of  one  exposure  at  a  time  were  added.  The 
projection  set-up  is  shown  in  Fig.  3. 

The  attachment  for  stud}ang  a  single  exposure  (Fig.  3,  3)  was 
constructed  in  the  following  manner.  The  driving  shaft,  which  is 
operated  by  gears  driven  by  a  handle,  carries  on  the  left  side  of  the 
machine  a  small  flywheel.  One  revolution  of  this  flywheel  exposes 
one  section  of  the  film.  To  this  flywheel  was  bolted  a  ratchet 
wheel  and  a  chain  and  weight  (Fig.  3,  4),  so  adjusted  that  when  the 
chain  was  pulled  forward  by  the  string  (2)  the  shaft  revolved. 
When  the  chain  was  released  the  weight  pulled  the  ratchet  wheel 
back  to  its  original  position  without  turning  the  driving  shaft. 
The  experimenter  could  thus  remain  at  the  screen  at  some  distance 
from  the  projection  machine  and  advance  the  film  one  section  or 
more  at  a  time  at  his  convenience. 


METHODS  AND  APPARATUS  OF  MOTION-PICTURE  STUDY- 


'S     i 


26  THE  HANDWRITING  MOVEMENT 

A  500-watt  nitrogen  lamp  was  used  in  the  projection  machine. 
The  heat  from  this  lamp  would  have  been  sufficient  to  burn  the  film 
if  care  had  not  been  taken  to  keep  the  lamp  in  such  a  position  that 
the  focal  or  burning  point  of  the  light  did  not  fall  on  the  film. 
The  film  was  accordingly  given  what  is  called  flood  light.  The 
machines  as  used  in  the  ordinary  projection  have  a  shutter  which 
excludes  the  light  from  the  film  when  the  film  is  stationary.  In 
addition  to  this  precaution  the  beam  of  light  was  cooled  by  a  water 
bath  (not  shown  in  the  figure). 

Since  the  projection  enlarged  the  image  on  the  film  many  times, 
a  very  slight  difference  in  the  position  of  the  film  at  successive 
pictures  was  magnified  on  the  screen.  It  was  necessary  to  make 
the  screen  easily  adjustable  so  that  the  successive  images  could 
be  made  to  fall  on  exactly  the  same  place  upon  it.  To  this  end 
a  frame  was  constructed  which  supported  a  board  in  a  vertical 
position  and  allowed  it  to  be  moved  easily  in  a  vertical  or  horizontal 
direction  or  to  be  rotated.  The  weight  of  the  board  was  supported 
by  counterweights  so  that  it  remained  in  any  position  in  which  it 
was  placed.  Sheets  of  paper  (Fig.  3,  i)  on  which  the  drawings 
were  to  be  made  were  tacked  to  this  board. 

In  order  to  facilitate  superimposing  one  picture  on  the  next, 
reference  lines  were  drawn  on  a  sheet  of  drawing  paper  which  was 
fastened  to  the  table  on  which  the  subject  wrote. 

The  projection  screen  and  the  space  between  it  and  the  lens 
of  the  projection  machine  were  enshrouded  with  a  hood  to  make  it 
possible  to  work  in  a  light  room  in  daylight. 

In  the  study  and  measurement  of  the  various  -aspects  of  the 
photographs  it  was  always  convenient  and  sometimes  necessary 
to  have  on  the  screen  a  facsimile  of  the  written  record'  which  the 
subject's  pen  had  left.  This  could  have  been  traced  from  the 
motion-picture  photographs  themselves,  and  in  fact  this  method 
was  pursued  in  the  beginning.  But  the  much  more  convenient 
and  accurate  method  was  soon  hit  upon  of  photographing  the 
original  writing  specimens  with  a  degree  of  enlargement  corre- 
sponding to  the  enlargement  of  the  films  by  the  projection  machine. 
These  photographic  prints  were  then  pasted  on  the  sheets  of  paper 
on  which  the  projection  was  to  be  made. 


METHODS  AND  A PPAFLi TVS  OF  MOriON-PICTi'KE  STUDY     27 
THE   METHOD    OF    STUDYING   THE   RECORDS 

The  preliminary  study  of  the  motion-picture  films  was  made 
by  r_unning  them  slowly  through  the  projecting  machine  and  making 
^  cursory  examination  of  the  outstanding  features  of  the  writing 
movement  of  the  various  subjects.  This  inspection  revealed  the 
more  striking  features  of  the  hand  position  and  movement  and 
indicated  the  direction  it  would  be  profitable  to  take  in  the  more 
exact  and  detailed  study  of  the  records. 


V     '      *  3  r 


Fig.  4. — Specimen  photographs  of  the  hands  of  two  writers  showing  A,  the 
position  at  the  top  and  bottom  of  a  letter  and  B,  the  position  at  the  beginning  and 
end  of  a  word. 


This  more  exact_study  was  carried  on,  first,  by  making  drawings 
of  the  hand  at  certain  crucial  points  in  the  writing.  The  points 
which  were  chosen  were  the  top  and  bottom  of  the  tall  letters,  in 
order  to  indicate  the  kind  of  movement  employed  in  making  the 
up  and  down  strokes,  the  beginning  and  end  of  a  w^ord,  and  the 
beginning  and  end  of  a  line  of  writing  across  the  page,  in  order  to 
indicate  the  type  of  movement  by  which  the  hand  was  carried 
across  the  page.  Specimen  photographs  from  which  the  drawings 
were  made  are  shown  in  Fig.  4.  The  method  was  to  superimpose 
two  drawings  in  order  to  facilitate  the  comparison  of  the  two  posi- 
tions. The  two  superimposed  drawings  from  the  subject  shown  in 
the  lower  photographs  are  given  in  Fig.  15,  page  53.     It  is  clear 


28  THE  HANDWRITING  MOVEMENT 

from  this  drawing  that  the  movement  by  which  the  hand  was  car- 
ried along  while  the  letters  of  a  word  were  being  formed  was  one_ 
chiefly  of  the  wrist. 

These  drawings,  supplemented  by  direct  observation  of  the 
projected  images  of  the  films,  are  the  source  of  other  observations  on 
the  hand  position.  From  them  the  manner  of  holding  the  pen  can 
be  seen.  For  example,  it  can  be  determined  whether  the  forefinger 
is  situated  nearer  to  the  pen  point  than  is  the  thumb,  or,  as  is  some- 
times the  case,  whether  it  is  drawn  upward  on  the  penholder  so  as  to 
be  opposite  the  thumb.  Similarly,  the  manner  in  which  the  fore- 
finger and  the  thumb  are  bent,  which  indicates  something  of  the 
looseness  or  tightness  of  the  grasp,  may  be  observed.  The  position 
of  the  pen  and  penholder  can  be  studied.  It  may  be  noted  whether 
the  pen  is  held  so  that  the  two  points  bear  upon  the  paper  equally, 
whether  the  penholder  is  held  opposite  the  knuckle  joint  or  is 
allowed  to  drop  into  the  angle  at  the  base  of  the  thumb,  and 
whether  the  holder  points  along  the  forearm  or  to  the  right  or  the 
left.  Furthermore,  the  degree  of  pronation  of  the  hand  (turning 
the  palm  down)  may  be  roughly  measured.  If  the  hand  is  entirely 
prone,  the  wrist  is  level.  A  nearly  level  wrist  is  commonly  regarded 
as  a  necessary  feature  of  good  position.  To  some  extent  the  manner 
in  which  the  hand  is  supported-^^foT  instance,  on  the  third  and  fourth 
fingers  or  on  the  side  of  the  hand — may  be  discovered.  Finally,  the 
position  of  the  arm  is  revealed,  whether  it  is  approximately  at  right 
angles  to  the  line  of  writing  or  inclined  to  the  right  or  left.  On  the 
basis  of  the  observations  on  these  points  the  writers  were  classified 
and  the  relationship  between  the  hand  position  and  skill  in  writing 
was  worked  out. 

The  method  of  recording  the  speed  changes  was  simple.  The 
photograph  of  the  subject's  writing  produced  under  the  motion- 
picture  camera  was  pasted  on  a  sheet  of  paper  and  placed  on  the 
projection  board.  The  first  photograph  of  a  record  was  then  pro- 
jected, and  the  board  adjusted  so  that  the  image  of  the  pen  point 
coincided  with  the  beginning  of  the  first  stroke  of  the  word.  The 
guide  lines  or  other  reference  lines  were  drawn  on  the  paper.  The 
position  of  the  pen  was  indicated  by  a  short  check  line  on  the  letter 
stroke.     The  filnL.was  then  advanced  until  the  next  section  con- 


METHODS  AND  APPARATUS  OF  MOTION -PICTURE  STUDY     29 

taining  the  second  photograph  was  in  position,  and  the  board  was 
adjusted  until  the  stationary  parts  of  the  photograph  (at  this  early 
stage,  the  guide  lines)  coincided  with  the  lines  on  the  screen.  /U_ 
the  pen  point  had  moved,  its  new_position  was  indicated  as  before. 
If  it  had  not  moved,  as  was  usual  at  the  beginning  of  a  word,  a 
count  was  kept  of  the  number  of  exposures  after  the  first  one  which 
elapsed  before  the  pen  moved,  and  this  number  was  written  oppo- 
site the  mark  which  indicated  the  position.  The  completed  record 
is  illustrated  in  Fig.  5.  It  is  obvious  that  a  crowding  of  the  points 
means  a  slowing  down  of  the  movement,  that  their  spreading  means 
an  acceleration,  and  that  the  numbers  indicate  pauses.     The  time 


Fig.  5. — Illustration  of  a  record  of  the  speed  changes  in  writing 

unit  by  which  the  duration  of  the  pauses  is  measured  is  one  exposure 
of  the  camera,  which  was  usually  one  twenty-fifth  of  a  second.  A 
further  method  of  charting  the  speed  changes  will  be  described  in 
connection  with  the  individual  records. 

THE    SUBJECTS 

The  subjects  of  the  intensive  laboratory  experiment  included 
fifty  children  and  adults.  The  children  were  chosen  from  two 
schools,  the  University  Elementary  School  and  the  Ray  School,  a 
Chicago  public  school.  The  two  groups  together  furnished  good 
material  for  the  experiment  because  they  included  one  group  of 
children  who  do  not  have  much  highly  specialized  instruction  in 
writing,  and  another  group  made  up  of  those  who  receive  regular 
drill  in  one  of  the  well-known  arm-movement  systems  of  writing. 
In  the  University  Elementary  School  no  system  is  used  uniformly 
throughout  the  school,  and  the  method  and  amount  of  training  are 
left  largely  in  the  hands  of  the  individual  teachers.  In  some 
grades  regular  writing  exercises  are  given  and  in  others  there  is  little 
instruction  in  this  subject.     In  general,  large  latitude  is  given  to 


30  THE  HANDWRITING  MOVEMENT 

individual  variation.  In  the  Ray  School  regular  drill  is  given. 
This  range  in  the  kind  of  instruction  which  the  children  received 
made  it  possible  to  study  the  effects  of  instruction  and  also  such 
distinctions  between  good  and  poor  writing  as  may  be  independent 
of  the  influence  of  the  method  of  teaching. 

From  these  two  schools  children  were  chosen  who  represented 
extremes  of  good  and  poor  writing.  Writing  tests  were  given  in 
both  schools  and  the  selections  were  made  on  the  basis  of  the  papers 
which  the  pupils  wrote.  From  each  grade  of  the  University  Ele- 
mentary School  four  of  the  poorest  and  one  of  the  best  writers  were 
selected.  From  the  Ray  School  four  good  and  four  poor  writers 
were  selected  from  each  of  the  fourth  and  the  eighth  grades.  Four- 
teen of  the  poor  writers  in  the  University  Elementary  School  were 
photographed  and  then  were  given  special  instruction  in  writing 
and  at  the  end  of  this  special  training  were  photographed. 

The  adults  were  selected  with  the  purpose  of  getting  repre- 
sentatives of  good  and  poor  writers.  The  effort  to  find  poor  writers 
revealed  the  fact  that  the  nature  of  writing  deficiency  differs 
somewhat  in  adults  and  children.  The  deficiency  in  children 
seems  to  be  more  largely  a  matter  of  deficient  motor  control,  while 
among  adults  it  seems  more  often  due  to  rapidity  and  the  lack  of 
minute  attention  to  detail.  A  number  of  relatively  good  and 
relatively  poor  writers,  however,  were  obtained  from  among  the 
students  of  the  School  of  Education.  In  addition  to  these  a 
number  of  persons  who  may  be  called  professional  writers  were 
photographed.  Three  of  these  had  not  had  intensive  training  but 
are  employed  as  addressers  by  the  University  of  Chicago  Press; 
another,  Mr.  C.  P.  Zaner,  is  the  well-known  teacher  of  penmanship 
and  publisher  of  manuals. 


CHAPTER  III 

ANALYSIS  OF  INDIVIDUAL  RECORDS  FROM  THE  .MOTION- 
PICTURE  STUDY 

STUDY   OF   ILLUSTRATIVE   RECORDS   FROM  ADULT   WRITERS 

We  shall  begin  our  study  of  the  results  of  the  laboratory  experi- 
ment by  an  account  of  a  few  typical  records  which  are  chosen  to 
represent  the  various  groups  of  writers.  This  will  give  a  clearer 
idea  of  the  handwriting  habits  of  individual  writers  than  can  be 
obtained  from  the  study  of  tables,  and  will  prepare  the  reader  to 
appreciate  the  variety  of  ways  in  which  the  different  elements  of 
position  and  of  movement  may  be  combined  in  different  individuals. 
The  conditions  of  good  writing  are  several,  and  rarely  does  one 
writer  exhibit  them  all.  Good  writers  usually  have  some  unfavor- 
able characteristics  and  poor  writers  are  not  usually  so  hopeless  as 
to  have  no  redeeming  traits.  It  is  only  after  a  study  of  a  number 
of  individuals,  therefore,  that  the  characteristics  which  belong 
to  good  or  poor  writing  gradually  emerge.  This  difficulty  in  dis- 
crimination is  particularly  present  in  the  study  of  the  writing  of 
educated  adults,  most  of  whom  have  overcome  by  long  practice 
the  grosser  faults  which  appear  in  the  writing  of  children. 

THE    POSITION   AND    MOVEMENT    OF    A    WRITING    EXPERT 

Figs.  6  and  7  give  a  reproduction  of  a  part  of  the  writing  which 
Mr.  Zaner  produced  under  the  camera  and  the  speed  records  that 
were  made  from  it.  This,  as  well  as  all  the  work  which  will  be 
shown,  was  done  without  special  preparation  and  with  pen.  ink.  and 
paper  which  were  provided  in  the  laboratory. 

Three  styles  of  writing  are  shown.  The  first  line,  con:?isting  of 
the  words  "professional  penmanship,"  will  be  recognized  as  appro- 
priate to  set  before  the  pupils  as  a  copy.  The  second  line  is  some- 
what less  precise  and  the  third  line  still  less  so.  Since  our  aim  is 
the  practical  one  of  discovering  the  conditions  of  the  sort  of  writ- 
ing which  is  in  general  use,  we  shall  make  our  especial  study  of  the 
informal  handwriting  shown  in  the  third  specimen. 

31 


THE  HANDWRITING  MOVEMENT 


From  the  photographs  which  were  made  during  the  writing 
of  this  Hne  drawings  have  been  made  to  illustrate  the  important 
phases  of  hand  position  and  the  grosser  aspects  of  movement.  No 
drawing  can  give  as  vivid  an  idea  of  the  details  of  the  movement  and 
position  as  can  be  obtained  from  the  observation  of  the  motion 
pictures  themselves,  but  the  drawings  have  the  advantage  of  mak- 
ing possible  the  more  exact  representation  of  the  facts. 


Fig.  6. — The  writing  of  C.  P.  Zaner  and  the  analysis  of  the  speed  on  one  word 

Observe,  first,  the  position  of  the  hand  and  arm  as  they  appear 
in  Fig.  8.  The  full-line  drawing  on  the  left  represents  the  position 
of  the  hand  at  the  beginning  of  the  word  "handwriting."  The 
elbow  is  situated  slightly  to  the  right  of  a  line  drawn  perpendicular 
to  the  base  line  of  the  writing,  and  as  a  consequence  the  forearm 
inclines  slightly  to  the  left.  This  is  somewhat  at  variance  with  the 
theory  which  is  sometimes  held,  that  the  forearm  should  be  perpen- 
dicular to  the  base  line. 


AX. I  LYSIS  OF  INDIVIDUAL  RECORDS  ^7, 

The  hand  is  turned  over  somewhat  to  the  right  so  that  the 
wrist  is  incHned  about  30°  from  the  horizontal.  It  was  formerly 
held  that  the  wrist  ought  to  be  level,  but  few  make  this  require- 
ment now. 

The  drawings  themselves  do  not  show  directly  the  manner  in 
which  the  hand  is  supported,  since  the  mirrors  giving  front  and 
side  views  of  the  hand  were  not  used  when  these  records  were  made, 
but  it  is  evident  from  an  inspection  of  the  position  of  the  hand  and 
from  the  manner  in  which  it  is  carried  along  the  line  that  the  hand 
is  supported  on  the  first  joints  of  the  third  and  fourth  fingers,  on 


y  ,^j^  ^  c^  ^       ly    ^       (y        u     (/ 


Fig.  7. — Speed  curve  from  the  word  "handwriting"  written  by  C.  P.  Zaner 


which  it  slides  during  the  formation  of  the  letters  and  the  move- 
ment from  one  letter  to  another. 

As  a  result  of  turning  the  hand  to  the  right  the  penholder  points 
nearly  in  the  direction  of  the  forearm.  This  is  not  much  at  vari- 
ance with  the  customary  directions  at  the  present  time,  but  it  is  at 
variance  with  the  former  rule  that  the  penholder  should  point 
toward  the  right  ear. 

The  penholder  is  grasped  in  an  easy  manner  by  the  thumb  and 
the  first  two  fingers.  The  first  finger  rests  on  the  top  of  the  pen- 
holder and  the  thumb  presses  lightly  against  the  side  at  a  point 
farther  from  the  pen  point  than  the  linger.  The  penholder  rests 
in  a  hollow  between  the  thumb  and  the  first  finger.  The  older 
belief  was  that  the  holder  should  bear  against  the  knuckle  of  the 
index  finger. 


ANALYSIS  OF  INDIVIDUAL  RECORDS  35 

It  is  not  surprising  to  find  the  professional  expert's  position 
conforming  to  a  liberally  interpreted  orthodoxy.  This  does  not 
prove  that  good  writing  cannot  be  produced  when  the  canons  of 
strict  orthodoxy  are  still  more  radically  disobeyed.  We  shall 
have  to  examine  other  good  writers,  not  to  be  classed  as  experts  or 
professional  teachers,  to  see  what  variations  may  occur  and  still 
permit  the  writing  to  be  good,  even  though  not  the  best.  But 
we  may,  provisionally  at  least,  take  the  position  of  the  expert  as  the 
standard. 

We  may  next  examine  the  composition  of  the  movement,  that 
is.  the  elements  of  the  hand  and  arm  movements  which  make  up 
the  total  movement.  The  writing  movement  may  for  convenience 
be  analyzed  into  two  components  or  elements:  (i)  the  sideward 
movement  by  which  the  hand  is  carried  from  left  to  right  across 
the  page,  and  (2)  the  more  complex  movement  of  forming  the 
letters. 

The  sideward  movement  is  fairly  well  indicated  by  comparing 
the  position  of  the  hand  and  arm  at  the  beginning  and  end  of  a 
word  or  at  the  beginning  and  end  of  a  line.  The  left  side  of  Fig.  8 
shows  the  position  of  Mr.  Zaner's  hand  at  the  beginning  and  end 
of  the  word  "handwriting"  and  the  middle  section  the  position  at 
the  beginning  and  end  of  a  whole  line  of  writing.  Where  necessary 
to  make  it  distinguishable  the  second  position  of  the  hand  is  indi- 
cated by  a  broken  line. 

The  noteworthy  fact  about  the  movement  of  this  writer's  hand 
along  the  line  is  the  uniformity  in  the  position  of  the  hand  which  is 
maintained.  The  direction  of  the  penholder,  for  example,  is  kept 
almost  the  same,  so  that  it  remains  parallel  to  the  initial  direction 
throughout.  This  uniformity  is  doubtless  a  condition  of  the  uni- 
formity of  slant  of  the  letters.  The  apparent  manner  in  which  the 
penholder  is  kept  parallel  to  its  initial  position  is  interesting. 
The  forearm  does  not  remain  parallel  to  its  initial  position,  but  the 
elbow  retains  approximately  its  original  position,  while  the  hand 
moves  forward.  The  arm  therefore  points  more  toward  the  right 
at  the  end  of  a  line  or  of  a  word  than  at  the  beginning.  This  is 
quite  evident  in  the  drawings.  The  penholder,  in  order  to  main- 
tain its  position  with  reference  to  the  paper  and  the  writing,  has 


36  THE  HANDWRITING  MOVEMENT 

been  altered  in  position  so  that  it  points  along  the  arm  at  the  end  of 
the  line,  whereas  it  pointed  to  the  left  at  the  beginning. 

A  further  study  of  the  drawings  indicates  the  method  by 
which  this  adjustment  was  made.  If  a  line  A  (Fig.  8)  is  drawn 
from  the  edge  of  the  index  finger  to  the  edge  of  the  middle  finger 
in  the  left-hand  drawing,  and  a  line  B  of  the  same  length  drawn  from 
the  edge  of  the  index  linger  on  the  right-hand  drawing,  it  becomes 
evident  that  the  outlines  of  the  two  fingers  are  closer  together  in  the 
right-hand  position.  This  is  evidence  that  the  hand  turned  over 
toward  the  right  as  it  progressed  along  the  page.  Further  evidence 
of  this  is  seen  in  the  position  of  the  index  finger  on  the  penholder 
and  in  the  appearance  of  a  space  between  the  penholder  and  the 
second  joint  of  the  thumb  at  the  end  of  the  line.  Thus  one  change 
in  the  position  of  the  arm  as  the  hand  moves  across  the  page  is 
accompanied  by  another  sort  of  change  which  compensates  for  the 
first.  This  is  the  opposite  of  the  movement  of  pronation  which  was 
observed  in  an  earlier  study. 

One  other  adjustment  of  the  arm,  which  is  connected  with  the 
fact  that  it  points  toward  the  left  at  the  beginning  of  the  line,  is 
worthy  of  mention.  It  is  clear  that  if  the  elbow  remained  in 
exactly  the  same  position  throughout  the  line,  the  hne  would  slope 
upward  on  the  paper.  But  by  comparing  the  position  of  the 
corresponding  parts  of  the  hand  at  the  beginning  and  end  of  the 
word  or  the  line — as  indicated  by  the  lines  C  and  D  at  the  wrist 
joint,  for  example — it  is  evident  that  the  elbow  has  been  drawn 
back.  This  probably  did  not  necessitate  lifting  the  arm  or  sliding 
the  sleeve  on  the  desk,  since  the  play  of  the  skin  of  the  muscle  pad 
of  the  forearm  in  the  adult  allows  a  movement  of  about  an  inch. 
The  amount  of  adjustment  of  this  sort  necessary  to  keep  the  line 
straight  would  be  less  if  the  forearm  were  perpendicular  to  the 
hne  of  writing  at  the  middle  of  the  page. 

The  movement  which  is  employed  in  forming  the  letters  is 
illustrated  on  the  right  side  of  Fig.  8  by  drawings  of  the  hand  at 
the  bottom  and  top  of  the  upstroke  of  the  letter  //.  To  facilitate 
estimates  of  the  movement  of  various  parts  of  the  hand  in  the  verti- 
cal and  horizontal  directions,  vertical  and  horizontal  lines  have 
been  drawn  at  points  E  to  /. 


ANALYSIS  OF  INDIVIDUAL  RECORDS 


M 


The  drawings  indicate  that  this  stroke  was  made  by  a  combina- 
tion of  the  movement  of  the  whole  arm  and  the  extension  of  the 
fingers  and  thumb.  The  stroke  is  made  diagonally  upward  and 
toward  the  right.  Each  part  of  the  hand  and  wrist  which  can 
readily  be  identified  also  moves  upward  and  toward  the  right.  But 
the  amount  of  movement  at  the  wrist  (/)  is  only  about  half  the 
movement  at  the  pen  point.  The  middle  joint  of  the  second 
finger  (G)  makes  as  much  movement  sideward  as  the  pen,  indi- 
cating some  movement  at  the  knuckle,  but  it  does  not  make  as 
much  vertical  movement,  indicating  that  the  pen  movement  is 
partly  produced  by  the  straightening  out  of  the  thumb  and 
fingers. 

The  foregoing  analysis  has  shown  that  the  handwriting  move- 
ment is  a  complex  of  a  number  of  elements.  A  noteworthy  feature 
of  the  movement  of  the  writer  whose  records  we  are  studying  is  the 
great  smoothness  with  which  the  elements  work  together  in  com- 
plete co-ordination.  This  aspect  cannot  well  be  shown  in  the 
drawings,  but  it  is  evident  in  the  motion  picture  itself.  The 
different  elements  of  the  movement  fit  together  so  smoothly  that  it 
is  sometimes  difficult  to  distinguish  them.  Some  of  the  other 
writers  whom  we  shall  study  furnish  sharp  contrasts  to  this.  Their 
movements  are  irregular  and  jerky,  and  frequently  one  phase  of  the 
movement,  for  example,  the  movement  along  the  line,  has  to  be 
interrupted  while  another  movement,  the  formation  of  letters,  is 
being  carried  out. 

This  consideration  of  the  smoothness  and  harmony  of  the  move- 
ment introduces  us  to  the  speed  analysis  of  the  writing,  for  it  is 
here  particularly  that  the  contrast  between  well  co-ordinated 
and  poorly  co-ordinated  movement  manifests  itself.  Two  out- 
standing contrasts  will  appear  from  the  study  of  the  speed  changes 
in  writing.  The  first  contrast  is  between  the  type  of  transition 
from  slow  to  rapid  movement  and  from  rapid  to  slow  movement 
which  makes  the  movement  jerky  and  irregular  or  which,  on  the 
other  hand,  makes  the  movement  smooth  and  regular.  The 
second  contrast  is  between  the  speed  changes  which  are  suitable 
to  the  form  of  the  letter  to  be  produced  and  those  which  are  not. 
We  may  examine  the  latter  point  first. 


61331 


38  THE  HANDWRITING  MOVEMENT 

The  clearest  and  most  convenient  way  to  represent  the  speed 
changes  in  writing  is  to  indicate  them  directly  on  the  writing  itself. 
This  may  be  done,  as  was  shown  in  Fig.  6,  by  indicating  the  position 
of  the  pen  point  at  each  successive  unit  of  time.  The  unit  of  time 
which  is  represented  is  the  interval  between  one  exposure  of  the 
film  and  the  next,  which  in  most  cases  is  about  one  twenty-fifth  of  a 
second.  The  interval  in  any  particular  record  is  constant,  which 
is  sufficient  for  the  analysis  about  to  be  made.  The  speed  of  the 
movement,  then,  corresponds  to  the  distance  between  the  short 
cross-lines.  When  the  cross-lines  are  widely  separated  the  move- 
ment is  rapid.  The  record  in  Fig.  6  indicates  that  at  the  beginning 
of  the  h  there  was  a  pause  of  four  exposures,  or  four  twenty-fifths  of 
a  second.  The  pen  then  rapidly  traced  the  upstroke,  slowed 
down  somewhat  at  the  top,  traced  a  rapid  downstroke,  and  paused 
for  seven  exposures  at  the  bottom.  The  rapidity  of  the  movement 
is  greatest  in  the  middle  of  the  stroke.  The  speed  of  the  movement 
is  commonly  most  retarded  at  the  sharpest  turns  or  changes  of 
direction  of  the  stroke,  though  this  rule  has  its  exceptions.  Two 
noteworthy  exemplifications  of  the  rule  are  to  be  found  in  both  w's. 
The  second  turn  at  the  top  of  each  letter  is  made  pointed,  and 
correspondingly  there  is  a  pause  at  each  point,  while  the  rounded 
turns  are  made  without  pauses.  We  have  here,  then,  in  the 
individualized  writing  of  an  expert,  examples  of  modifications 
in  the  form  of  the  letters  corresponding  to  deviations  from  the 
type  of  speed  changes  which  is  suitable  to  the  production  of  the 
standard  letter.  Another  illustration  is  to  be  found  in  the  undue 
lengthening  of  the  connecting  stroke  between  the  //  and  the  g, 
corresponding  to  the  unusually  high  speed  of  this  stroke;  for  it  is 
another  rule  that,  particularly  in  adult  writing,  the  longer  the  stroke  / 
the  greater  the  speed  with  which  it  is  made. 

The  speed  of  the  stroke  reflects  also  the  complexity  and  the 
accuracy  of  the  adjustment  to  be  made.  An  illustration  of  this 
fact  may  be  seen  in  the  a  and  in  the  first  part  of  the  d.  The  body 
of  the  a  stands  out  rather  conspicuously  as  being  slower  than  the 
strokes  of  the  other  letters.  If  one  examines  this  letter  he  will 
see  that  the  adjustments  which  are  required  are  rather  delicate. 
The  upward  stroke  at  the  beginning  must  be  curved  and  the  down- 


ANALYSIS  OF  INDIVWrAL  RECORDS 


39 


ward  stroke  must  curve  in  the  same  degree.  The  next  upward 
stroke  of  the  a  must  be  so  accurately  adjusted  in  length  that  it  just 
reaches  the  end  of  the  first  stroke.  The  same  is  true,  in  a  measure, 
of  the  first  part  of  the  d  and  of  the  corresponding  part  of  the  g. 
The  continuance  of  the  upstroke  in  the  d,  however,  constitutes  a 
difference  which  is  reflected  in  its  greater  speed.  The  g  in  the 
word  which  is  before  us  offers  a  negative  illustration  of  the  principle 
of  the  relation  between  speed  and  form.  It  is  not  retarded  in  speed 
as  the  a  or  the  d.  Correspondingly,  the  letter  is  not  so  accurately 
formed  as  are  the  two  preceding  ones.  The  first  upward  stroke, 
instead  of  being  curved,  is  straight,  and  the  loop  is  made  much 
narrower  than  usual,  due  to  the  fact  that  the  downward  stroke  and 
the  upward  stroke  are  nearly  straight  lines.  Thus  speed  changes 
have  a  marked  influence  on  form. 

Another  illustration  of  complexity  is  to  be  found  in  the  r.  At 
the  top  of  the  r  the  form  is  similar  to  the  i  and  a  number  of  other 
letters.  This  part  of  the  r  is  not  to  be  distinguished  from  similar 
parts  of  other  letters.  The  shoulder  of  the  ;',  however,  requires  a 
double  change  in  direction  within  a  short  distance,  and  it  t}^ically 
requires  a  retardation  in  speed  which  is  out  of  proportion  to  the 
amount  of  change  in  direction  which  each  turn  by  itself  involves. 

The  tendency  in  adult  handwriting  is  to  slur  over  such  com- 
plexities as  these.  This  is  done  by  falling  into  a  rhythmical 
movement  in  which  the  successive  strokes  are  made  in  nearly  the 
same  length  of  time.  This  tendency  to  a  simple  t}^e  of  rhythm  is 
characteristic  of  developed  and  mature  writing,  and  within  limits 
is  a  mark  of  excellence.  But  it  must  be  kept  strictly  under  control, 
as  we  shall  see  by  further  illustrations,  or  it  will  result  in  a  deforma- 
tion of  the  letters.  This  fault  is  more  prevalent  in  adult  writing 
than  in  that  of  children. 

Another  fact  to  be  observed  in  the  specimen  of  writing  before 
us,  which  may  be  of  some  significance,  is  the  difference  in  speed 
of  the  upw'ard  and  downward  strokes.  Thg^u^waid  stlokes  are 
usually--jnaxie_tnore--papidly--than--4he  downward  strokes.  This, 
as  well  as  certain  other  features,  may  be  seen  more  clearly  in  Fig.  7. 

This  chart  is  constructed  after  the  following  manner:  Each 
horizontal   unit   represents  one   exposure   of   the   camera   or  one 


40  THE  HANDWRITING  MOVEMENT 

twenty-fifth  of  a  second.  The  height  of  the  column  above  each  unit 
represents  the  distance  in  milUmeters  which  the  pen  traveled  during 
the  corresponding  camera  exposure.  The  absence  of  a  column 
indicates  a  pause  of  one  twenty-fifth  of  a  second.  For  example,  we 
find  in  Fig.  6  that  four  exposures  of  the  camera  were  recorded  at  the 
beginning  of  the  word  ''handwriting."  One  of  these  is  reckoned  as 
simply  representing  a  stage  in  the  movement,  as  do  the  exposures 
where  there  is  no  pause,  and  the  remaining  three  are  taken  to  repre- 
sent the  duration  of  the  pause.  This  pause  is  indicated  on  the 
speed  curve  in  Fig.  7  by  the  horizontal  line  at  the  beginning,  three 
units  long.  During  the  next  exposure  of  the  camera  the  pen 
traveled  a  distance  which  is  measured  by  one  and  one-half  milli- 
meters on  the  enlarged  specimen  in  Fig.  6.  This  is  indicated  by  a 
column  one  and  one-half  spaces  tall. 

In  brief,  a  space  on  the  speed  curve  which  is  left  vacant  repre- 
sents a  pause,  and  the  extent  of  the  space  indicates  the  length  of 
the  pause.  A  series  of  columns  represents  a  movement  of  the  pen. 
The  speed  of  the  movement  in  its  successive  stages  is  represented 
by  the  height  of  the  successive  columns  and  the  duration  of  the 
movement  by  the  number  of  columns. 

A  pause  constitutes  a  break  in  the  movement,  which  may  be 
regarded  as  marking  the  division  point  between  successive  units  of 
the  movement.  Such  division  points  are  indicated  by  three  dots 
placed  vertically  below  the  curve.  For  convenience  in  interpreting 
the  curve  the  part  of  the  letter  which  is  made  during  each  of  these 
units  of  movement  is  traced  underneath.  Secondary  divisions  in 
the  movement  which  are  made  by  a  retardation  in  speed  not  suffi- 
cient to  constitute  an  actual  pause  are  indicated  by  single  dots 
underneath. 

It  will  be  observed  by  examining  the  chart  that  the  fact  which 
has  just  been  stated  holds;  namely,  that  the  upward  strokes  are 
usually  made  more  rapidly  than  the  downward  strokes.  The 
columns  which  represent  upward  strokes  are  usually  higher  than 
those  which  represent  downward  strokes.  The  significance  which 
may  possibly  attach  to  this  fact  may  be  seen  by  the  consideration 
that  the  upward  strokes  slope  in  general  toward  the  right,  and 
therefore  carry  the  hand  forward  along  the  line.     Our  analysis 


ANALYSIS  OF  INDIVIDUAL  RECORDS  41 

will  show  repeatedly  that  this  forward  movement  and  the  position 
which  makes  it  possible  are  among  the  important  conditions  of 
efficient  writing.  It  would  appear,  then,  that  this  writer  empha- 
sizes the  forward  mo\-ements  by  making  them  with  greater  speed 
than  the  backward  movements. 

The  speed  curve  of  the  writing  furnishes  also  a  convenient 
means  of  studying  the  wa}-  in  which  the  whole  writing  movement  is 
divided  into  sections  by  pauses  or  retardations  in  speed.  The 
sections  into  which  the  writing  movement  is  divided  by  pauses  may, 
for  the  most  part,  be  regarded  as  the  units  of  the  writing  movement. 
In  some  cases  the  slowing  down  of  the  movement,  although  not 
sufficient  to  constitute  an  actual  pause,  may  be  regarded  as  a 
division  between  two  units.  These  units  may  be  so  organized 
as  to  be  appropriate  to  the  form  of  the  letters  which  are  being 
produced  or  so  as  to  be  inappropriate. 

It  appears  that,  in  the  writing  before  us,  the  unit  of  movement  is 
usually  composed  of  at  least  two  strokes,  one  upward  and  the 
other  downward.  In  some  cases  more  than  two  strokes  are  in- 
cluded. See,  for  example,  the  unit  including  the  last  downward 
stroke  of  the  a  and  the  first  part  of  the  n.  In  this  case  two  down- 
ward strokes  and  one  upward  stroke  are  included  in  one  unit.  This 
corresponds  to  the  fact  that  there  are  no  sharp  turns  within  this 
part  of  the  word.  There  are  some  exceptions  to  the  rule  that  there 
is  retardation  at  the  sharp  turns.  This  is  illustrated  by  the  first 
stroke  of  the  d  and  the  top  of  the  upward  stroke  in  the  letters  d  and 
w.  According  to  the  common  practice  we  should  expect  a  pause 
at  each  of  these  points.  At  the  top  of  the  d  there  is  a  distinct 
retardation  in  the  speed  of  the  movement,  and  this  should  prob- 
ably not  be  taken  as  a  genuine  exception  to  the  rule. 

An  inspection  of  the  speed  curve  to  discover  the  manner  in 
which  the  changes  in  speed  are  made  indicates  that,  in  general, 
they  are  somewhat  gradual  and  that  the  acceleration  and  retarda- 
tion of  the  movement  are  for  the  most  part  not  abrupt.  This  is 
shown  by  the  fact  that  the  curve  rises  and  falls  rather  gradually. 
There  are  exceptions  in  the  cases  of  some  of  the  upward  strokes,  such 
as  the  first  stroke  of  the  first  /.  These  are  illustrations  of  rapid 
movements  which  stop  somewhat  suddenly.     The  acceleration  of 


42  THE  HANDWRITING  MOVEMENT 

these  movements,  however,  has  been  gradual,  and  there  are  no 
instances  in  which  the  movements  begin  abruptly.  Some  of  the 
poor  writers  exhibit  a  marked  contrast  to  this. 

THE    POSITION    AND    MOVEMENT    OF    A    GOOD    ADULT    WRITER 

We  now  turn  to  a  briefer  inspection  of  the  writing  of  another 
good  adult  writer  which  is  reproduced  in  Fig.  9.  It  is  evident  that 
this  is  good  writing,  although  the  letters  are  less  regularly  and 
accurately  formed  than  those  in  the  writing  of  the  first  subject. 
The  hand  position  is  indicated  in  Fig.  10.  In  the  first  drawing  the 
hand  is  shown  at  the  top  and  bottom  of  the  downward  stroke  of  the 
letter  a.  The  position  here  is  evidently  much  like  that  of  the  first 
subject,  which  we  may  regard  as  standard.  The  thumb  and  fore- 
finger are  drawn  in  somewhat  more,  but  the  hand  rests  on  the  third 
and  fourth  fingers,  as  is  readily  seen  when  the  film  is  projected. 
The  wrist  is  held  fairly  level  and  the  arm  is  practically  perpendicular 
to  the  line  of  writing.  In  the  latter  respect  this  subject  differs  from 
the  first  one.  The  movement  along  the  line  is  made,  as  in  the  pre- 
ceding case,  by  the  whole  forearm  and  not  by  the  adjustment  of  the 
hand  or  wrist.  The  penholder  is  kept  parallel  to  its  initial  position 
in  this  case  also.  The  downward  stroke  of  the  letter  is  made  by  a 
combination  of  movements  of  the  arm  and  fingers,  but  the  move- 
ment of  the  fingers  is  somewhat  less  than  that  of  the  arm. 

Turning  now  to  the  record-  of  the  speed  changes,  shown  in 
Fig.  9,  we  find  a  series  of  speed  changes  similar  to  those  exhibited 
by  the  first  subject.  The  movement  of  the  longer  stroke  of  the/ 
is  more  rapid  than  the  succeeding  shorter  strokes.  Each  stroke  of 
the  /  is  made  in  a  regular  fashion,  with  the  greatest  speed  in  the 
middle  of  the  stroke.  The  writing  of  the  word  is  divided  into 
definite  and  fairly  regular  units  and  there  are  no  markedly  abrupt 
changes  in  the  speed. 

THE   POSITION    AND    MOVEMENT    OF    TWO    POOR   ADULT    WRITERS 

We  turn  now  to  the  records  of  two  adult  writers  who  are  con- 
trasted with  the  two  writers  just  discussed  because  of  their  poor 
letter  forms  and  the  poorly  co-ordinated  movements  which  they 
exhibit.     The  writing  of  the  first  of  these  is  shown  in  Fig.  11.     It 


ANALYSIS  OF  INDIVIDUAL  RECORDS 


43 


44 


TEE  HANDWRITING  MOVEMENT 


will  be  admitted  that  there  is  a  very  distinct  contrast  in  this  writing 
to  that  of  the  two  previous  subjects.  The  hand  and  arm  position 
and  movement  are  shown  in  Fig.  12.  A  study  of  the  arm  and 
hand  position  of  this  writer  indicates  that  it  is  not  a^shdrply^qn- 
trasted  with  that  of  the  two  good  writers  as  is  the  writing  itself. 
The  hand  is  held  with  the  wrist  fairly  level.     The  grasp  of  the  pen 


Fig.  10. — Hand  position  and  gross  movement  of  a  good  adult  writer 


is  reasonably  light  and  the  fingers  are  in  the  position  which  is 
usually  prescribed.  The  movement  along  the  line,  moreover, 
seems  to  be  reasonably  free  and  to  be  made  with  the  arm,  the  hand 
resting  and  sliding  on  the  third  and  fourth  fingers.  At  the  end  of 
the  line,  however,  the  penholder  is  usually  rotated  to  the  left,  so  that 
the  two  points  of  the  pen  do  not  bear  evenly  on  the  paper.  Another 
criticism  of  the  hand  position  of  this  writer  is  that  the  penholder 
does  not  keep  the  same  angle  or  direction  from  the  beginning  to  the 
end  of  the  writing.     The  consequence  of  this  is  evident  in  the 


ANALYSIS  OF  INDIVIDUAL  RECORDS  '     45 

increased  slope  of  the  letters  toward  the  end  of  the  line.  The 
writer  fails  to  make  any  adjustment  of  the  hand  or  arm  that  will 
compensate  for  the  difference  in  the  direction  of  the  forearm  as  the 
hand  shifts  along  the  line. 

This  writer's  habit  has  evidently  been  acquired  as  a  result  of 
considerable  practice,  and  the  subject  in  comment  on  this  fact  said 
that  he  had  received  considerable  training  in  a  certain  well-known 
system  of  writing  but  that  it  did  not  "take."  The  downward 
stroke  of  the  letter  is  made  by  the  movement  of  the  hand  as  a 
whole.  This  is  made  clear  by  the  fact  that  the  hand  and  the  fingers 
which  are  not  in  contact  with  the  pen  are  changed  in  position 
as  well  as  the  forefinger  and  the  thumb.  The  notes  on  the 
observation  of  the  projected  motion  picture  of  this  writer  indi- 
cate that  he  uses  some  arm  movement  as  well  as  finger  move- 
ment. The  movement,  then,  is  similar  in  its  general  character 
to  that  of  the  first  two  subjects,  with  only  slightly  greater  emphasis 
on  the  finger  element.  We  have  seen  that  there  are  some  devia- 
tions in  the  hand  position  and  movement  of  this  subject  from  those 
of  the  best  writers  as  represented  by  the  first  two  subjects.  They 
are  not  sufficient,  however,  to  account  for  the  difference  in  the 
results. 

A  more  marked  contrast  is  to  be  observed  in  the  speed  changes 
characterizing  the  writing  movement.  These  records  are  shown  in 
Fig.  II.  The  general  appearance  of  the  speed  curve  indicates 
clearly  the  very  erratic  character  of  the  movement.  The  first  part 
of  the  word  "jump"  has  been  added  to  make  this  characteristic 
still  more  prominent.  There  is,  in  the  speed  curve,  a  conspicuous 
absence  of  division  of  movement  into  regular  units.  When  we 
attempt  to  divide  the  word  on  the  basis  of  the  speed  curve,  as 
exhibited  in  the  portions  of  the  letters  drawn  underneath  the  curve, 
it  is  clear  that  divisions  do  not  represent  parts  into  which  the  word 
is  naturally  divided.  Take,  for  example,  the  second  unit,  which 
comprises  the  last  upward  stroke  of  the  /  and  the  downward  stroke 
of  the  0.  The  natural  division  point  between  units  would  be  the 
last  turn  of  the/  before  the  connecting  stroke.  This  turn,  and  the 
one  at  the  top  of  the  0,  are  passed  over  without  the  customary 
retardation.     If  we  follow  the  movement  to  the  next  unit  we  see 


zi6 


THE  HANDWRITING  MOVEMENT 


^^^^^^^ 


^ 


r 


\. 


^ 


\ 


< 


ANALYSIS  OF  INDIVIDUAL  RECORDS 


47 


48  THE  HANDWRITING  MOVEMENT 

that  the  natural  division  point  at  the  closing  of  the  o  is  passed 
over  entirely.  Similarly  there  is  neither  pause  nor  marked  retarda- 
tion in  the  two  curves  of  the  x.  The  last  stroke  of  the  x  is  to  be 
described  more  as  a  dash  of  the  pen  over  the  paper  than  as  an 
orderly  stroke.  A  clear  correspondence  between  the  imperfect 
division  of  the  writing  movement  into  units  and  the  poor  form  of  the 
letters  is  seen  in  the  malformation  of  the  o. 

We  have  here,  then,  an  extreme  example  of  the  absence  of  an 
orderly  rhythmical  movement,  well  adapted  to  the  form  of  the 
letters  that  are  to  be  produced.  The  training  which  would  be 
adapted  to  this  writer  would  not  deal  primarily  with  the  factors 
of  position  or  with  the  general  manner  in  which  the  movement  is 
made  from  the  point  of  view  of  its  composition.  It  would  consist 
primarily,  on  the  other  hand,  of  such  exercises  as  would  lead  to  a 
rhythmical  and  orderly  succession  of  movements. 

The  writing  of  the  next  subject  (shown  in  Fig.  13)  while  some- 
what better  co-ordinated  than  that  of  the  preceding  subject,  is 
poor  for  an  educated  adult.  Figs.  14a  and  14&,  which  show  his 
hand  position  and  his  movement  from  the  beginning  to  the  end  of 
a  word  and  from  the  top  to  the  bottom  of  a  stroke,  indicate  slight 
departure  from  the  position  and  movement  of  the  first  two  sub- 
jects. The  grasp  of  the  pen  and  the  manner  in  which  the  hand 
rests  on  the  table  do  not  show  marked  deviations.  It  may  be  seen 
from  the  side  view,  which  was  made  possible  by  the  use  of  a  mirror, 
that  the  hand  rests  on  the  third  and  fourth  fingers.  The  downward 
movement  within  the  letter  (Fig.  14&)  is  made  by  the  hand  as  a 
whole,  but  the  third  and  fourth  fingers  do  not  slide  on  the  paper. 
These  fingers  remain  stationary  and  the  other  fingers  move  away 
from  them  in  making  the  upward  stroke.  The  movement  along  the 
line  (Fig.  14a)  was  evidently  made  by  means  of  the  arm  as  a  whole. 
This  is  indicated  by  the  direction  of  the  line  which  represents  the 
margin  of  the  hand.  The  hand  was  turned  palm  downward  when 
it  moved  toward  the  right,  as  may  be  seen  from  the  angle  of  the 
penholder  as  observed  in  the  forward  mirror.  The  deviation  from 
the  usual  standard  in  position  and  in  the  composition  of  the  move- 
ment is  not  pronounced  in  comparison  with  many  other  writers. 
We  shall  turn,  therefore,  to  the  record  of  the  speed  changes  in 


ANALYSIS  OF  INDIVIDUAL  RliCORDS 


49 


order  to  discover  whether  they  explain  more  adequately  than  hand 
position  and  the  composition  of  the  movement  the  poor  qualit}'  of 
writing. 


^^""^^  "^"^^ 


■    i.    r 


j\ 


\i 


X, 


^ 


ft.^.^.CT.fl 


/ 


; 


0 


V        / 


^ 


m 


^.r^ 


t^^^^.n 


yv 


'^ 


u 


<r 


Fig.  13. — Record  of  a  poor  adult  writer 


The  speed  record  of  the  word  "fox"  (Fig.  13,  a)  does  not  show 
very  marked  evidences  of  inco-ordination.  There  are  some  indica- 
tions, however,  that  the  movement  is  not  as  regularly  carried  out  as 
is  desirable.  The  first  upward  stroke  of  the/  is  more  rapid  than  is 
warranted  by  the  general  speed  of  the  rest  of  the  word.     The 


50 


THE  HANDWRITING  MOVEMENT 


acceleration  and  retardation  in  the  speed  of  the  other  two  strokes 
of  this  letter,  furthermore,  are  not  as  regular  as  in  the  case  of  the 
first  two  subjects.  In  the  o  there  is  a  marked  contrast  in  the  speed 
of  the  downward  and  the  upward  strokes,  and  the  speed  of  the  con- 
necting stroke  shows  some  irregularity. 


Fig.  14(7. — Hand  position  and  gross  movement  of  a  poor  adult  writer 


In  order  to  show  a  much  better  example  of  inco-ordination  the 
record  of  the  word  ''lazy,"  written  by  this  subject,  is  presented  in 
Fig.  13,  h.  The  unusual  grouping  of  the  strokes  into  units,  which 
was  noted  in  the  case  of  the  preceding  subject,  is  exhibited  here  in 
the  last  strokes  of  the  a  and  the  z.     The  loop  of  the  :;  would  appear 


ANALYSIS  OF  INDIVIDUAL  RECORDS 


51 


to  be  made  by  a  spasmodic  effort,  which  results  in  increasing  speed, 
culminating  at  the  connecting  stroke  between  the  2  and  the  y. 
After  a  pause  at  the  top  of  this  stroke  excessive  effort  is  represented 
by  a  high  rate  of  speed  until  the  loop  of  the  y  is  reached.     At  this 


Fig.  14b. — Hand  position  and  gross  movement  of  a  poor  adult  writer 

point  striking  slowness  and  irregularity  of  movement  appear  in 
the  speed  curve,  and  the  irregularity  is  reflected  in  the  appearance 
of  the  letter  itself.  The  whole  speed  curve  of  the  word  taken 
together  exhibits  a  conspicuous  absence  of  a  regular  succession  of 
units  of  effort  such  as  characterizes  the  good  writer. 


52  THE  HANDWRiriNG  MOVEMENT 

The  only  very  clear  distinction  between  the  good  and  poor 
writers  among  these  few  individuals  who  have  been  taken  as  illus- 
trative cases  relates  to  the  speed  changes  of  their  movement.' 
The  good  writers  organize  the  movement  much  more  clearly  into 
speed  units  than  do  poor  writers,  and  these  units  are  better  adapted 
to  the  form  of  the  letters  which  are  being  written. 

ILLUSTRATIVE    RECORDS    FROM    CHILDREN 

To  illustrate  the  writing  of  children  we  shall  present  representa- 
tive records  from  good  and  poor  writers.  For  this  purpose  the 
following  cases  are  chosen:  Two  good  and  two  poor  writers  from 
the  upper  grades,  one  of  each  group  chosen  from  the  Ray  School 
and  from  the  University  Elementary  School;  also  two  good  and 
two  poor  writers  from  the  intermediate  grades,  one  of  each  group 
selected  as  before  from  each  of  the  two  schools.  Finally,  two 
illustrations  of  the  handwriting  of  poor  writers  who  took  special 
training  will  be  given  in  order  to  compare  their  writing  before  and 
after  training. 

POSITION    AND    MOVEMENT    OF    GOOD    WRITERS 

The  next  record  is  that  of  one  of  the  better  writers  in  the  sixth 
grade  of  the  University  Elementary  School.  The  drawings  of  the 
hand  position  of  this  writer  are  presented  in  Fig.  15  and  the  speed 
curve  in  Fig.  16.  The  hand  position  of  this  subject  deviates  very 
markedly  from  the  standard  set  by  the  good  adult  writers.  The 
hand  is  turned  so  far  over  that  it  rests  on  the  side  instead  of  on  the 
fingers.  The  movement  along  the  line  shows  a  large  amount  of 
wrist  movement.  This  produces  within  the  writing  of  a  single 
word  a  marked  change  in  the  direction  of  the  penholder,  and  this 
results,  as  may  be  seen  in  the  illustration,  in  an  overslant  of  the 
letters  as  the  hand  progresses  toward  the  right.  The  hand  also 
turns  over  toward  the  right  as  it  progresses  toward  the  end  of  the 
line.  The  index  finger  is  drawn  up  so  that  it  rests  on  the  penholder 
opposite  the  thumb  instead  of  below  it.  The  movement  on  the 
downstroke  of  the  letter  is  made  chiefly  by  the  fingers. 

The  following  note  on  this  writer  was  made  from  the  observation 
of  the  film.     ''The  error  in  slant  is  due  to  resting  the  hand  on  the 


ANALYSTS  OF  INDIVIDUAL  RECORDS 


53 


, o 


a 


54 


THE  HANDWRITING  MOVEMENT 


^■. 


t; 


n 

n 


\ 


N 


^        1 


^ 


ANALYSIS  OF  INDIVIDUAL  RECORDS 


55 


side  and  to  excessive jvrist  movement  along  the  line.     Deliberate 
careful  writer;  needs  better  position  for  speed."     The  following 
sentence  is  added,  which  leads  us  to  a  further  examination.     ''Bad 
position  is  compensated  for  by  good  rhythm."     From  the  speed 


Fig.  17a. — Hand  position  and  gross  movement  of  a  good  writer  from  Grade  \'III 


curve  it  is  apparent  that  this  writer  separates  the  words  into  units 
representing  the  successive  strokes,  and  emphasizes  the  separation 
by  rather  long  pauses  at  the  ends  of  the  strokes.  The  strokes 
themselves  are  made  rapidly.  The  division  into  units  is  well 
adapted  to  the  forms  which  are  to  be  produced.  While  the  rapidity 
with  which  the  strokes  are  made  gives  the  speed  curves  an  appear- 
ance of  abruptness,  the  rapid  strokes  are  well  timed  and  come  at 


56 


THE  HANDWRITING  MO  A  EM  EN  T 


places  which  are  appropriate  to  the  form  of  the  writing.  The 
movement,  though  rapid,  is  under  control  and  does  not  distort 
the  form  of  the  writing.  Slowness  in  this  writer  is  due,  not  to 
slowness  of  the  movements  themselves,  but  to  the  unusual  amount 
of  time  spent  in  the  pauses.  This  undoubtedly  aids  in  the  control 
of  the  movement. 


^>~-:A-C4y. 


v^^^-<'"~"'"^\ 


^,.1 


Fig.  176. — Hand  position  and  gross  movement  of  a  good  writer  from  Grade  VIII 


The  next  subject,  a  good  writer  in  the  eighth  grade  of  the  Ray 
School,  represents  a  radically  different  type  of  hand  position  and 
hand  movement  from  those  we  have  thus  far  observed.  The  hand 
(as  shown  in  Figs.  17a  and  17&)  is  turned  far  over  to  the  side  and 
the  penholder  is  turned  far  to  the  right,  being  raised  nearly  to  the 
second  joint  of  the  second  finger.  In  spite  of  these  facts  the  hand  is 
supported  on  the  third  and  fourth  fingers  and  slides  along  the  paper 


ANALYSIS  OF  INDIVIDUAL  RECORDS 


57 


easily  while  the  letters  are  being  formed.  This  may  be  seen  from  a 
comparison  of  the  positions  at  the  beginning  and  end  of  the  word 
"brown."  The  movement  has  been  made  almost  entirely  with 
the  arm,  accompanied  by  a  slight  movement  of  the  wrist.  Toward 
the  end  of  the  line  the  hand  is  turned  over  still  farther  toward  the 
right  and  the  penholder  points  still  farther  forward.  The  strokes  of 
the  letters  are  made  by  the  lingers  with  a  slight  accompaniment  of 
arm  movement.  The  fact  to  be  remembered  with  reference  to  the 
position  and  type  of  hand  movement  of  this  writer  is  that  while  the 
hand  is  turned  to  the  side  it  is  capable  of  being  easily  moved  across 
the  page. 

The  speed  curve  of  this  writer  (shown  in  Fig.  i8)  indicates  that 
the  writing  of  the  word  is  divided  into  units  which  correspond 
completely  to  the  successive  strokes  of  the  letters.  These  units  are 
made  with  substantially  the  same  speed,  except  in  the  case  of  the 
b,  which,  being  a  longer  letter,  is  made  more  rapidly.  The. picture 
presented  is  that  of  a  regular,  well  co-ordinated  movement,  well 
adapted  to  the  forms  to  be  produced. 

The  next  record  is  from  a  fairly  good  writer  in  the  fourth  grade  of 
the  University  Elementary  School.  The  hand  position  (Fig.  19) 
again  represents  a  somewhat  extreme  turning  over  toward  the  side. 
The  hand  is  partly  supported,  however,  by  the  fingers,  and  moves 
along  the  line  readily,  as  is  indicated  by  the  fact  that  the  arm  as  a 
whole  is  used  to  carry  the  hand  from  the  beginning  to  the  end  of  the 
word.  The  arm  is  approximately  perpendicular  to  the  Hne  of  writ- 
ing at  the  middle  of  the  page,  and  is  moved  along  the  page  by  turn- 
ing about  the  elbow  as  a  center.  The  finger  and  thumb  are  drawn 
up  slightly  in  holding  the  pen,  but  the  grasp  is  apparently  not 
cramped.  The  strokes  of  the  letters  are  made  by  a  finger  movement 
supplemented  by  a  sideward  movement  of  the  arm.  The  sideward 
movement  of  the  hand  in  writing  the  words  is  made  by  the  arm 
and  wrist,  which  results  in  some  change  in  the  direction  of  the 
penholder.  This  apparently  is  compensated  for  by  another  adjust- 
ment, since  it  does  not  affect  the  slant  of  the  letters. 

The  speed  curve  of  this  writer  (Fig.  20)  is  very  similar  to  the 
one  which  has  just  been  described.  The  only  point  at  which 
the  units  of  the  movement  do  not  correspond  to  the  strokes  of  the 


58 


THE  HANDWRITING  MOVEMENT 


s: 


^ 


N 


V 


^      ^ 


^ 


^ 


^ 


"\ 


pil 


ANALYSIS  OF  INDIVIDUAL  RECORDS 


59 


-----'        *" — -— V. 


ex 

c 


6o 


THE  HANDWRITING  MOVEMENT 


\ 

•i 

t 

i 

< 

^'b 

^J 

^^ 

?\. 

^fi 

ct- 

"^ 

> 

Jj 

\-^ 

to 

1 

N< 

^y 

•^— ■ 

\ 

Ch 

»^ 

^ 

v-> 

\ 

y-f 

AV 


»— J? 


O 


~-^ 


A NA  L YSIS  OF  INDI  \  IDUA  L  RECORDS  6 1 

letters  is  at  the  top  of  the  first  part  of  the  ;/.  But  since  this  is 
not  a  radical  change  in  direction  from  the  connecting  stroke  it  is 
not  a  notable  variation.  Another  minor  variation  is  the  lack  of  a 
pause  at  the  shoulder  of  the  r. 

The  next  record  is  from  a  good  writer  in  the  fourth  grade  of  the 
Ray  School.  The  hand  position  (Fig.  21)  is  in  some  respects  more 
nearly  like  that  in  standard  adult  writing  than  is  that  of  the  subjects 
just  described.  The  wrist  is  held  reasonably  level  and  the  grasp  of 
the  pen  by  the  fingers  and  thumb  is  similar  to  that  which  is  usually 
prescribed.  The  elbow  is  situated  at  the  right  side  of  the  page, 
which  causes  the  forearm  to  slant  toward  the  left  at  the  beginning 
of  the  line.  In  consequence  the  arm  is  drawn  back  while  the  line 
is  being  written.  Apparently  a  further  consequence  is  the  large 
amount  of  wrist  movement  which  is  employed  in  the  writing  of  a 
word.  This  causes  a  very  radical  change  in  the  direction  of  the  pen- 
holder from  the  beginning  to  the  end  of  the  word.  The  hand  rests 
on  the  third  and  fourth  fingers,  however,  and  slides  easily  on  them 
while  the  letters  are  being  formed.  There  is  no  resting  on  the  side 
of  the  hand.  The  strokes  of  the  letters  are  made  by  a  combination 
movement  of  the  fingers,  hand,  and  arm.  The  relative  amount  of 
movement  of  the  different  parts  is  indicated  by  the  spots  which 
were  placed  on  the  hand  and  are  reproduced  in  the  drawing.  The 
spots  on  the  wrist  move  about  half  the  distance  of  the  whole  stroke. 
The  movement  of  the  fingers  is  indicated  by  the  fact  that  the  thumb 
is  more  crooked  at  the  end  of  the  stroke  than  at  the  beginning. 
The  fact  that  the  hand  as  a  whole  moves  is  indicated  by  the  spot 
on  the  knuckle  of  the  index  finger.  This  has  been  displaced  some- 
what to  the  left  and  downward.  This  displacement  could  only 
result  from  a  movement  of  the  whole  hand  about  the  wrist  joint. 
This  type  of  movement  is  not  commonly  recognized,  but  is  one 
which  is  used  relatively  often  by  good  writers. 

The  speed  curve  (Fig.  22)  shows  only  slight  deviations  from  the 
type  that  is  found  to  be  characteristic  of  good  writers.  The  stroke 
begins  in  an  unusual  manner  by  exhibiting  high  speed  at  the  start. 
The  0  and  the  first  part  of  the  w  are  made  as  single  units  of  move- 
ment rather  than  as  two.  This,  however,  is  frequently  found 
among  good  writers  and  cannot  be  said  to  be  a  marked  variation 


o 


-a 

c 

ci 

X 


ANALYSIS  OF  INDIVIDUAL  RECORDS 


63 


1 

:•••      ^ 

V 

) 

^ 

N    ^ 

c  -  1 

^-i 

t.. 


^ 


\ 


v^ 


"^ 


64  THE  HANDWRITING  MOVEMENT 

from  the  type.  The  rather  long  pause  at  the  end  of  the  w  is  prob- 
ably the  consequence  of  the  immaturity  of  the  writer  and  the  incom- 
plete development  of  his  co-ordination.  In  general,  however,  the 
movement  is  very  well  co-ordinated  for  a  pupil  in  the  fourth 
grade. 

SUMMARY 

Before  proceeding  to  the  study  of  the  records  from  poor  writers  we 
may  briefly  summarize  the  characteristics  of  the  movement  of  the  good 
writers  which  have  just  been  examined.  Considerable  variety  has  been 
found  in  the  three  aspects — hand  position,  composition  of  the  movement, 
and  speed  organization.  We  can  therefore  merely  note  what  seem  to 
be  the  prevailing  types  and  defer  their  more  exact  determination  to  the 
statistical  study  of  larger  groups.  In  hand  position  good  writers  may 
deviate  widely  from  the  orthodox  position,  but  it  may  be  described 
negatively  by  saying  that  it  is  not  strained  or  cramped.  The  hand  does 
not  usually  rest  on  the  side,  but  rather  on  the  fingers.  Even  when  the 
hand  does  rest  on  the  side  it  slides  freely  across  the  page  while 
the  letters  are  being  formed.  The  formation  of  the  letters  may  be 
accomplished  chiefly  by  the  fingers  or  the  arm  or  by  a  combination  of 
the  two.  From  the  point  of  view  of  speed  organization  the  movement 
is  commonly  divided  pretty  definitely  into  units,  separated  by  pauses, 
and  these  units  correspond  to  natural  units  of  the  letter  forms. 

POSITION    AND    MOVEMENT    OF    POOR    WRITERS 

How  do  poor  writers,  taken  from  the  same  groups  of  children 
as  those  we  have  been  examining,  compare  with  these  good  writers  ? 
The  contrast  may  be  observed  in  the  following  cases.  The  first 
is  a  poor  writer  in  the  seventh  grade  of  the  University  Elementary 
School.  The  drawings  of  the  hand  position  and  hand  movement 
(Figs.  23a  and  236)  indicate  that  the  hand  rests  on  the  side.  More- 
over, in  the  movement  along  the  line  the  hand  does  not  slide  freely. 
This  may  be  seen  in  the  fact  that  the  little  linger  projects  beyond  the 
arm  more  at  the  end  of  the  line  than  at  the  beginning,  and  by  the 
fact  that  the  hand  is  turned  farther  over  toward  the  side  at  the  end 
of  the  line.  An  inspection  of  the  motion  picture  indicates  clearly 
that  the  hand  is  carried  along  in  an  intermitterxf  fashion.  We 
may  describe  this  best  by  saying  that  the  hand  hitches  at  intervals 
during  the  writing  of  a  word.     More  detailed  drawings  of  the 


A  \. I  LYSIS  OF  INDIVIDL'AL  liECORDS 


6s 


manner  in  which  the  hand  is  carried  along  the  Hne  will  be  presented 
shortly.  The  forearm  slopes  to  the  left  at  the  beginning  of  the  line 
and  does  not  quite  attain  a  perpendicular  position  at  the  end  of 
the  line.  The  direction  of  the  penholder  changes  radically  during 
the  writing  of  the  line,  and  this  is  accompanied  by  a  change  in  the 
slant  of  the  letters.     The  movement  throughout  the  writing  of  a 


-V-OT/JVV 


Fig.  23(7. — Hand  position  and  gross  movement  of  a  poor  writer  from  Grade  VII 

single  word  is  accomplished  by  a  backward  turning  of  the  wrist 
and  by  a  change  in  the  angle  of  the  penholder.  The  strokes  of  the 
letters  are  made  by  drawing  back  the  hnger  and  the  thumb.  The 
noteworthy  feature  about  the  hand  movement  of  this  writer  is 
the  lack  of  good  co-ordination  between  the  movements  of  the 
fingers  and  the  arm,  and  this  lack  of  co-ordination  is  favored  b}-  the 
extreme  side  position  in  which  the  hand  rests  on  the  table. 


66 


THE  HANDWRITING  MOVEMENT 


In  the  speed  curve  (Fig.  24)  we  find  a  marked  contrast  between 
this  subject  and  the  good  writers.  The  writing  is  not  divided 
to  correspond  to  the  strokes  or  natural  combinations  of  strokes 
in  the  letters.  The  individual  strokes  themselves  are  not  made 
uniformly  with  acceleration  toward  the  middle,  which  is  what  we 
should  naturally  expect  and  find  in  the  better  co-ordinated  writing. 


Fig.  236. — Hand  position  and  gross  movement  of  a  poor  writer  from  Grade  VII 

At  the  very  first  stroke,  for  instance,  there  is  a  pause  near  the 
beginning,  but  no  pause  at  the  top  of  the  loop  or  at  the  bottom. 
The  bottom  of  the  r  is  made  without  retardation,  and  correspond- 
ingly it  is  much  too  rounded.  The  strokes  from  the  last  bottom 
turn  of  the  w  to  the  first  bottom  turn  of  the  n  are  grouped 
together,  and  there  is  a  lack  of  proper  division  between  the 
strokes.     There  is  a  marked  contrast  in  speed  between  some  of  the 


ANALYSIS  OF  INDIVIDUAL  RECORDS 


67 


^ 


K 


J 


c   ^ 


J      -H 

o 


;s^ 


68 


THE  HANDWRITING  MOVEMENT 


strokes  and  others.  Compare  the  speed  of  the  r  and  the  middle 
part  of  the  o  with  the  first  half  of  the  w;  or  the  h,  which  should  be 
comparatively  rapid,  with  the  last  part  of  the  «,  which  should  be 
slower.  This  writing  exhibits  a  general  lack  of  uniformity,  accom- 
panied by  a  lack  of  adaptation  of  the  speed  to  the  letters  which  are 
to  be  formed. 


Fig.  25a. — Hand  position  and  gross  movement  of  a  poor  writer  from  Grade  VIII 


The  next  record  is  from  a  poor  writer  from  the  eighth  grade  of  the 
Ray  School.  The  hand  of  this  writer  (Figs.  250  and  25^)  is  turned 
over  on  the  side,  but  in  spite  of  this  the  movement  along  the  line  is 
somewhat  freer  than  that  of  the  preceding  subject.  This  is  indicated 
by  the  fact  that  there  is  some  movement  of  the  arm  as  well  as  of 
the  hand  from  the  beginning  to  the  end  of  a  word.     The  move- 


ANALYSIS  OF  IX DIVIDUAL  RECORDS 


69 


ment  is  more  successful  at  the  beginning  than  at  the  end  of  the 
line,  as  is  shown  by  the  deterioration  in  form.  Corresponding  to 
this  deterioration  in  form  there  is  evidence  of  some  cramping  of 
the  hand.  This  involves  an  adjustment  within  the  hand,  which 
consists  in  drawing  in  the  thumb  and  turning  the  hand  farther 
over  to  the  side  at  the  end  of  the  line.     The  turning  over  is  shown 


Xk^^ 


'ly- 


\     \ 
\     \ 

\\ 

\    \ 

\   \ 

W 


A.' 


/ 


Fig.  25Z). — Hand  position  and  gross  movement  of  a  poor  writer  from  Grade  \'III 


by  the  position  of  the  spots  on  the  index  finger  and  the  thumb, 
which  are  much  farther  from  the  margin  of  the  hand  at  the  begin- 
ning of  the  hne  than  at  the  end.  The  distinct  difference  in  the 
quality  of  the  word  "brown''  and  the  word  ''lazy"  shows  that 
while  the  writer  has  been  somewhat  successful  in  the  movement 
along  the  line  at  the  early  part  of  the  line,  toward  the  end  the 


7° 


THE  HANDWRITING  MOVEMENT 


U     J 


n 


\ 


Pi 


fc 


ANALYSIS  OF  INDIVIDUAL  RECORDS 


71 


THE  HAXDWRiriNG  MOVEMENT 


C: 


t; 


si; 


^ 


^ 


\. 


^■. 


t    ^ 


V  I 


ANALYSIS  OF  INDIVIDUAL  RECORDS 


73 


movement  is  decideclh'  awkward.  The  strokes  of  the  letters  are 
made  with  the  lingers  and  the  hand,  as  in  the  case  of  most  subjects 
who  turn  the  hand  far  over  toward  the  right. 

The  speed  curve  of  the  writing  of  this  subject  (Fig.  26)  shows 
a  distinct  variation  from  the  standards  that  have  been  set  uj)  and 


Fig.  29a. — Hand  position  and  gross  movement  of  a  poor  writer  from  Grade  I\' 

marked  inconsistency  within  itself.  In  some  parts  of  the  word  the 
movement  is  divided  into  units  after  the  manner  which  has  alread\- 
been  described.  This  may  be  seen  in  the  case  of  the  r,  the  w,  and 
the  n.  At  the  bottom  and  the  last  turn  of  the  b,  however,  where 
a  pause  usually  occurs,  none  is  found.  The  same  is  true  of  0.  The 
connecting  stroke  between  the  r  and  the  0,  on  the  other  hand,  has  a 
pause  in  spite  of  the  fact  that  there  is  no  sharp  turn  within  it. 


74 


THE  HANDWRITING  MOVEMENT 


The  excessively  long  pause  in  the  last  turn  of  the  w  constitutes  a 
distinct  break  in  the  movement.  The  mixture  of  tall,  narrow 
columns,  which  indicate  sudden  rapid  movements,  and  groups  of 
lower  columns  gives  the  picture  of  irregularity  in  speed.  The 
movement,  then,  is  irregular  and  is  not  well  adapted  to  the  form 
of  the  letters  that  are  to  be  produced. 

\     \ 


>-■» 


V 


Fig.  igb. — Hand  position  and  gross  movement  of  a  poor  writer  from  Grade  IV 

The  next  record  is  that  of  a  poor  writer  from  the  fourth  grade 
of  the  University  Elementary  School.  The  hand  (Fig.  27)  rests 
upon  the  side,  and,  for  the  most  part,  the  movement  along  the 
line  is  made  without  ease  or  fluency.  The  movement  from  the 
beginning  to  the  end  of  a  word  is  made  partly  by  drawing  back 
the  wrist  and  partly  by  drawing  in  the  fingers  and  thumb.  The 
angle  of  the  penholder  is  changed  here,  as  also  in  the  movement 
from  the  beginning  to  the  end  of  the  line.  A  distinct  hitch  in  the 
movement  occurs  between  the  w  and  the  ;?,  and  this  is  represented 


ANALiSIS  OF  INDIVIDUAL  RECORDS 


75 


"v 


d  - 


c; 


t:: 


j: 


^ 


X 


Oi 


H:      r 


^ 


ANALYSIS  OF  INDIVIDUAL  RECORDS 


77 


^ 


t; 


t: 


[£■ 


V  if 

\      - 

tc. 

)  I 


E 


78 


THE  HANDWRITING  MOVEMENT 


—    .2 


8o  THE  HANDWRITING  MOVEMENT 

in  the  speed  curve  by  the  pause  at  this  point.  The  downstrokes 
are  made  by  means  of  the  fingers  and  the  hand,  with  the  pen- 
holder pivoted  at  the  middle. 

The  speed  curve  of  this  writer  (Fig.  28)  shows  marked  irregu- 
larities. Note,  for  example,  the  pauses  in  the  course  of  the  first 
upward  stroke  of  the  b.  Another  example  of  irregularity  is  the 
very  rapid  movement  from  the  shoulder  of  the  r  to  the  top  of  the  0. 
The  form  is  characterized  by  a  sharp  turn,  instead  of  the  rounded 
one  of  the  good  writer,  and  it  is  made  without  a  pause.  Note 
further  the  marked  difference  in  the  speed  curves  of  the  w  and  of 
the  n.  The  former  is  made  by  a  slow  movement;  the  latter  by  a 
series  of  very  rapid  movements  interrupted  by  pauses.  The  pause 
between  the  w  and  n,  which  is  accompanied  by  a  hitch  along  the 
line,  has  already  been  mentioned. 

Figs.  2g(7  and  2gh  contain  the  records  of  a  poor  writer  from  the 
fourth  grade  of  the  Ray  School.  In  this  case  the  hand  is  held  fairly 
level,  but  does  not  slide  easily  upon  the  third  and  fourth  fingers. 
This  may  be  accounted  for  in  part  by  the  fact  that  the  elbow  is  held 
so  far  to  the  right  that  the  forearm  must  be  drawn  back  a  consider- 
able distance  at  the  end  of  the  fine.  The  hand  is  also  turned  over 
toward  the  right  and  is  drawn  backward  somewhat  at  the  wrist. 
The  writing  deteriorates  toward  the  end  of  the  line.  These  facts 
taken  together  indicate  that  the  movement  of  the  hand  across  the 
page  is  not  skilfully  made.  The  strokes  of  the  letters  are  made  by 
a  movement  of  the  hand  accompanied  by  a  backward  movement 
of  the  arm  and  by  slight  finger  movement. 

There  are  several  evidences  of  marked  inco-ordination  in  the 
speed  curve  of  this  writer  (Fig.  30).  One  indication  of  this  is 
the  existence  of  the  two  complete  breaks  in  the  movement  after  the 
0  and  the  w  and  the  partial  break  after  the  h.  These  breaks  are 
evidently  not  simply  division  points  between  the  units  of  the 
movement  but  indicate  irregularities  in  the  movement.  The 
movement  on  the  latter  part  of  the  h  and  the  movement  on 
the  latter  part  of  the  r,  for  example,  are  radically  different  in 
speed.  Before  the  break  it  is  relatively  slow  and  even;  after  the 
break  it  is  rapid  and  spasmodic.  A  similar  contrast  may  be  found 
between  the  movement  on  the  w  and  the  «,  as  indicated  by  the 


ANALYSIS  OF  I X DIVIDUAL  RECORDS  8i 

speed  curve.     The  pause  near  the  beginning  of  the  first  stroke  of  the 
n  is  a  further  evidence  of  irregularity. 


SUMMARY 

In  contrast  with  the  good  writers  these  poor  writers  have  difficulty 
in  the  sideward  movement  across  the  page,  and  this  difficulty  seems  to 
be  due  in  large  measure  to  the  fact  that  they  rest  their  hands  on  the  side. 
As  another  consequence  of  this  position  the  hand  frequently  gets  into  a 
cramped  position  at  the  end  of  a  word  or  at  the  end  of  a  line.  No  clear 
contrast  with  the  movement  of  the  good  writers  appears  in  respect  to 
the  relative  amount  of  finger  or  arm  movement  in  forming  the  letters. 
There  is  a  sharp  contrast,  however,  in  the  type  of  speed  organization. 
The  poor  writers  do  not  organize  the  movement  into  speed  units  so 
clearly  as  do  good  writers,  and  the  units  of  movement  do  not  conform  so 
well  to  units  of  form  of  the  letters. 


ILLUSTRATIONS  OF  THE  CHANGES  IN  POSITION  AND  MOVEMENT 
AFTER    TRAINING 

The  next  four  records  present  the  changes  which  have  taken 
place  in  the  position  and  movement  of  two  subjects  after  a  short 
period  of  training. 

The  record  of  the  first  subject  is  shown  in  Figs.  31  and  32.  His 
record  before  training  appeared  in  Figs.  27  and  28.  These  records 
indicate  that  we  have  caught  this  child  in  the  transition  period  in 
the  formation  of  a  new  habit.  He  starts  out  bravely  at  the  begin- 
ning of  the  line  with  his  hand  held  fairly  level  and  resting  upon  the 
fingers.  At  the  end  of  the  line,  however,  the  hand  is  turned  over, 
resting  on  the  side.  Evidence  that  there  has  been  a  change  is  to 
be  found  in  the  manner  in  which  the  hand  is  moved  from  the 
beginning  to  the  end  of  the  word  "brown."  This  movement  does 
not  consist  wholly  in  drawing  back  the  wrist,  as  was  the  case 
before  training,  but  it  is  made  in  part  by  a  sideward  movement 
of  the  forearm.  The  change  in  the  direction  of  the  penholder 
is  not  radical.  The  movement  upon  the  letter  strokes  is  not  made 
primarily  at  the  finger  joint  but  is  a  movement  in  which  the  hand 
contributes.     This  appears  from  the  fact   that  there  is  a  slight 


82  THE  HANDWRITING  MOVEMENT 

movement  of  the  wrist  toward  the  right  while  the  downward 
stroke  of  the  b  is  being  made. 

A  change  in  the  direction  of  regularity  of  movement  and  its 
adaptation  to  the  form  of  the  letters  may  also  be  seen  in  the  speed 
curve  (Fig.  32).  Nothing  like  the  inco-ordination  previously 
shown  in  the  first  stroke  of  the  h  is  seen,  and  there  is  no  marked 
inconsistency  similar  to  the  last  stroke  of  the  r  and  the  connecting 
stroke  between  the  r  and  the  0  in  the  first  record.  The  chief 
breaks  in  regularity  are  found  in  the  rapid  strokes  at  the  beginning 
of  the  h  and  on  the  first  and  last  strokes  of  the  n.  The  pauses  are 
in  general  shorter  and  more  regular.  The  picture  of  the  speed 
changes  is  that  of  a  somewhat  better  co-ordinated  movement  after 
training  than  before. 

In  Figs.  T^2>  3-nd  34  are  presented  the  hand  positions  of  a  poor 
writer  in  Grade  III  A  of  the  University  Elementary  School  before 
and  after  training.  At  the  beginning  of  the  line  there  is  not  a  very 
radical  change  in  the  position  of  the  hand  after  training.  There 
is,  however,  a  radical  change  in  the  manner  in  which  the  hand  is 
carried  along  the  line,  as  shown  by  the  fact  that  after  training  the 
hand  retains  substantially  the  same  position  that  it  assumes  at 
the  beginning  of  the  line,  whereas  before  training  the  position 
at  the  end  of  the  line  is  radically  different  from  that  at 
the  beginning.  This  indicates  that  the  sideward  movement  in 
writing  the  line  has  become  better  organized.  One  element  in 
this  increased  efiiciency  is  that  the  arm  does  not  have  to  be 
drawn  back  as  the  line  is  written,  partly  on  account  of  the  fact 
that  it  is  held  somewhat  more  perpendicular  to  the  line  of 
writing. 

The  movement  during  the  writing  of  a  word  before  training  is 
not  accurately  represented  by  the  drawing.  On  its  face  the  draw- 
ing seems  to  indicate  that  the  arm  as  a  whole  moves  forward  during 
the  writing  of  the  letters.  This  appearance  is  caused  by  the  fact 
that  the  arm  was  lifted  and  shifted  in  position  at  a  particular 
point  in  the  word.  The  movement,  then,  is  not  a  continuous 
one.  This  will  be  brought  out  in  more  detail  in  a  moment  by 
another  method  of  presentation.  The  downward  strokes  of  the 
letters  are  made  in  both  cases  with  the  arm,  accompanied  by  a 


AXALYSIS  OF  INDIVIDUAL  RECORDS  83 

slight  amount  of  linger  movement.  'Inhere  has  been  no  radical 
change  in  this  phase  of  the  writing  as  a  result  of  training. 

A  more  radical  change  than  that  in  position  and  movement  has 
been  brought  about  in  the  speed  curve  (Figs.  35  and  36).  There 
are  very  marked  evidences  of  inco-ordination  in  the  curve  of  the 
writing  before  training.  Note,  for  example,  the  very  long  and 
irregularly  placed  pauses.  Note  further  the  pauses  which  occur 
in  the  middle  of  the  upstroke  and  the  downstroke  of  the  b  and  on 
the  upstroke  of  the  0,  the  connecting  strokes  between  the  0  and  the 
w,  between  the  ic  and  the  n,  and  the  two  middle  strokes  of  the  n. 
The  strokes  of  the  letters  are  not  made  by  continuous  movements 
but  by  movements  which  are  interrupted  irregularly  by  pauses. 
Furthermore,  the  movements  themselves  are  not  uniform  in  char- 
acter. In  some  cases  the}'  are  abrupt  and  rapid,  as  represented 
on  the  speed  curve  by  tall,  narrow  columns,  and  in  other  places 
they  are  made  slowly  and  gradually.  The  speed  curve  gives  us 
much  the  same  picture  as  is  presented  by  the  form  of  the  word 
itself.  After  the  training  there  are  no  such  evidences  of  marked 
inco-ordination.  There  are  rather  long  pauses,  but  they  come 
with  a  fair  degree  of  regularity  and  the  movements  between  them 
are  of  much  the  same  character  throughout  the  word.  Each 
stroke  is  made  with  smoothness  and  rapidity.  There  is  failure 
at  one  point  to  make  the  movement  correspond  to  the  ideal  form 
of  the  letters,  namely,  in  the  last  part  of  the  u\  where  there  is  no 
pause.  But  in  spite  of  this  there  is  a  vast  improvement  as  a  result 
of  the  short  period  of  training. 

Figs.  37  to  43  present  in  a  more  detailed  manner  the  type  of 
movement  from  the  beginning  to  the  end  of  a  word  of  three  poor 
writers  and  two  good  writers.  In  addition  the  change  which  has 
taken  place  in  two  of  the  poor  writers  during  training  is  indicated. 
It  will  be  remembered  that  the  speed  curve  which  is  shown  in  Fig. 
30  indicates  several  breaks  in  the  writing  of  the  words.  These 
breaks  are  represented  in  more  detail  m  Fig.  37  by  the  positions  of 
certain  reference  points  upon  the  hand  at  the  successive  exposures 
of  the  camera.  The  positions  of  each  of  these  reference  points, 
namely,  the  end  of  the  thumb,  the  end  of  the  fingers,  the  joint  of 
the  thumb,  knuckle,  two  dots  on  the  wrist,  and  the  end  of  the  pen 


84 


THE  HANDWRITING  MOVEMENT 


^  ._>^ 


c  ^ 


v^ 


\ 


N 


■c 


\ 


t: 


V. 


^ 


n 


^- 


o 


ANALYSIS  OF  INDIVIDLAL  RECORDS 


8S 


c£ 


c; 


c; 


\ 


fz; 


\ 


"X 


^ 


to 


^  1 


\  I 


86  THE  HANDWRITING  MOVEMENT 


END    OF     THUMB 


t  10 


^MfCICLE 


°^o^ 


Fig.  37.— Detailed  record  of  the  progression  of  the  hand  of  a  poor  writer  from 
Grade  IV.     The  speed  curve  of  this  writer  is  shown  in  Fig.  30. 


ANALYSIS  OF  INDIVIDUAL  RECORDS 


87 


9  ,  IS  Its 


'  '"^wi'^MW 


1    II  ^ 

'    '     '  '3  7,    'fit 


\ 


/^0     •'°' 


|S\  |I.\ 


g     7 


c    8      /O  l3 


'  3i  f  f  f  >^^,    „r^ 


^  5/ 


/r       ^f 


*  i3-'5        //         \  \     ;  «  / 


Fig.  38. — Detailed  record  of  the  progression  of  the  hand  of  a  good  writer  from 
Grade  IV. 


88 


THE  HANDWRITING  MOVEMENT 


--/vsrt^yTi 


NT     OP     F,M<jEp 


s\     \    if 


Tl&HT    Dor 


/y  \  /< 


^  ;f  y         '7         7  , 


Fig.  39.— Detailed  record  of  the  progression  of  the  hand  of  a  good  writer  from 
Grade  IV. 


ANALYSIS  OF  IX DIVIDUAL  RECORDS 


89 


tND     or    FI~SER 


EMD     OF     THUMB 


it]i 


END     OF     PENHOLDER 


Fig.  40. — Detailed  record  of  the  progression  of  the  hand  of  a  poor  writer  from 
Grade  IV  before  training.  The  record  of  this  pupil  after  training  is  shown  in  Fig.  41. 
The  speed  curves  of  this  subject  are  shown  in  Figs.  28  and  32. 


90 


THE  HANDWRITING  MOVEMENT 


'2       s     n 


///// 


i/S-\     ,8    "f 


'3  I  II, 


"  I'lL 


LEFT   Dot 


7      ^    " 


t\in  f\  n 


Pf~HOLD£ 


/2      13      </    '/ 


Fig.  41. — Detailed  record  of  the  progression  of  the  hand  of  a  writer  from  Grade  IV 
after  training.     The  record  of  this  pupil  before  training  is  shown  in  Fig.  40. 


ANALYSIS  OF  INDIVIDUAL  RECORDS 


^(r-^c^^^rU^^ 


91 


f~D    OF    TnuMB 


i   V 


\      ' 


K  NUZ  Kt^E 


1       '(.  /¥      "^  '7 


'^Dor 


'ill 


'9  k"^   'f 


Fig.  42. — Detailed  record  of  the  progression  of  the  hand  of  a  poor  writer  from 
Grade  III  A  before  training.  The  record  of  this  pupil  after  training  is  shown  in  Fig.  43. 
The  speed  curves  of  this  pupil's  writing  are  shown  in  Figs.  35  and  36. 


THE  HANDWRITING  MOVEMENT 


^-f^^^^^^^t^^'-T^ 


\VtUlfLiil\3lIl 


'""i/Me  '^ 


°    .'„     lit     It.  I 


10       2    If     Ik 


^hO*' 


(, 

5      7 


1  " 


END     or     PElv/HOLDEn 


/A, 


'3/7 


^  I  If   \      n 

'2  Y. 


Fig.  43. — Detailed  record  of  the  progression  of  the  hand  of  a  pupil  of  Grade  III  A 
after  training.     The  record  of  this  pupil  before  training  is  shown  in  Fig.  42. 


ANALYSIS  OF  INDIVIDL'AL  RECORDS  93 

are  indicated  by  dots  which  are  given  serial  numbers.  The  move- 
ments of  these  dots  or  reference  points  while  the  word  is  being 
written  indicate  the  nature  of  the  movement  of  the  hand.  Slight 
shifts  in  the  movement  of  the  hand  throughout  the  word  are  indi- 
cated by  the  positions  of  the  reference  points  on  the  thumb,  fingers, 
and  knuckles.  A  larger  readjustment  toward  the  end  of  the  word 
is  indicated  by  the  separation  of  a  group  of  dots.  There  is  here 
evidently  a  movement  which  may  be  described  as  hitching  along 
the  line  toward  the  end  of  the  writing  of  the  word.  The  positions 
in  exposures  15  to  18  are  separated  into  a  group  from  those  which 
precede  them. 

This  type  of  movement  may  be  contrasted  with  that  of  a  good 
writer  in  the  same  grade  (shown  in  Fig.  38).  The  hand  is  carried 
from  the  beginning  to  the  end  of  the  word  by  this  subject  by  a 
movement  of  the  wrist.  This  may  not  be  regarded  as  the  best 
possible  movement,  but  at  any  rate  there  is  no  hitching  of  the  hand, 
and  the  manner  of  progress  of  the  hand  as  indicated  by  the  dots 
on  the  thumb  and  the  fingers  is  highly  regular.  As  a  consequence 
of  the  fact  that  the  movement  is  made  largely  with  the  wrist,  the 
end  of  the  pen  moves  slightly  to  the  left  during  the  writing  of  the 
word.  This  movement,  however,  is  one  of  regular  progression. 
We  have  here,  then,  in  contrast  to  the  record  from  the  preceding 
subject,  a  smooth,  regular  progression  of  the  hand  along  the  line. 

In  Fig.  39  is  shown  the  record  of  another  good  writer,  although 
not  so  good  as  the  preceding  one.  Here,  also,  the  dots  on  the 
wrist  remain  close  together,  indicating  that  the  translation  of  the 
hand  has  been  largely  effected  by  a  movement  at  the  wrist  joint. 
There  is  no  evidence  of  a  marked  readjustment  of  position  at  any 
one  point  during  the  writing  of  the  word.  The  movements  of  the 
knuckles  and  the  joints  of  the  fingers,  while  not  so  regular  as  in  the 
case  of  the  subject  shown  in  Fig.  2,^,  are  still  more  regular  than  in 
the  record  shown  in  Fig.  37.  The  end  of  the  pen  moves  in  a  circular 
direction  toward  the  left. 

The  next  two  records  (shown  in  Figs.  40  and  41)  represent  the 
same  subject  before  and  after  training.  Although  the  period  of 
training  was  brief,  there  is  evident  a  noticeable  change  in  the 
type  of  movement.     Before  training  there  is  a  hitching  mo\ement 


94  THE  HANDWRITING  MOVEMENT 

during  the  writing  of  the  word,  as  indicated  by  the  separation  of  the 
dots  (i6  to  19)  at  the  end  of  the  pen,  the  wrist,  and  the  knuckles. 
After  training  the  wrist  moves  more  steadily  along  the  line,  and 
the  points  on  the  knuckles  indicate  a  more  regular  progression. 
There  is  still  a  hint  of  a  readjustment  after  point  6,  but  the  picture 
in  general  is  one  of  greater  regularity. 

A  still  more  pronounced  improvement  is  evident  in  the  records 
of  the  next  subject  (shown  in  Figs.  42  and  43).  Before  training  the 
subject  shows  a  lack  of  co-ordination  in  the  latter  part  of  the  move- 
ment along  the  word.  There  is  not  only  a  readjustment,  which 
takes  place  at  exposure  11,  but  the  rest  of  the  word  is  marked  by 
noticeable  irregularity.  The  movement  of  the  end  of  the  pen, 
which  goes  backward  and  forward  over  a  wide  area,  and  the 
movement  of  the  points  on  the  wrist,  the  knuckles,  the  finger 
joints,  and  ends  of  the  fingers  all  indicate  a  marked  lack  of  uni- 
formity. After  training  there  is  no  such  irregularity,  at  least  to  such 
a  marked  degree.  There  is  a  slight  readjustment  represented  at 
the  eleventh  exposure,  but  there  is  a  very  good  semblance  of  a 
regular  progression  to  the  right  in  the  various  parts  of  the  hand 
from  that  point  forward. 

SUMMARY   OF   THE    ANALYSIS    OF   ILLUSTRATIVE   CASES 

If  we  may  make  a  preliminary  generalization  on  the  basis  of  the  few 
cases  which  have  been  discussed  we  may  say  that  while  there  is  con- 
siderable variety  in  the  hand  positions  which  are  assumed,  and  while  the 
good  and  the  poor  writers  are  not,  in  most  cases,  very  clearly  marked  ofif 
by  hand  position,  yet  this  one  point  seems  to  emerge  as  of  distinguishing 
importance:  The  manner  in  which  the  hand  moves  across  the  line 
carrying  the  pen  from  one  letter  to  another  constitutes  a  rather  marked 
characteristic  difference  between  good  and  poor  writers.  There  are 
certain  positions  which  render  sideward  movement  possible  and  easy, 
and  there  are  other  positions  which  render  it  impossible,  or  at  least 
difficult.  We  can  make  a  generalization  somewhat  more  valid  by  the 
later  appeal  to  a  larger  number  of  cases,  and  can  discuss  in  greater  detail 
the  varieties  of  position  and  movement. 

Aside  from  the  hand  movement  and  position,  the  organization  of 
the  total  movement  with  respect  to  the  speed  changes  appears  to  be  of 
great  importance.     We  have  attempted  to  indicate  how  the  good  writer 


ANALYSIS  OF  INDIVIDUAL  RECORDS  95 

adjusts  the  changes  in  speed  to  the  character  of  the  form  which  he  wishes 
to  produce.  In  addition  to  this  there  appear  to  be  certain  general  char- 
acteristics of  a  well  co-ordinated  movement  which  are  in  a  measure 
lacking  in  a  poorly  co-ordinated  movement.  There  is  a  certain  regular- 
ity and  smoothness  of  movement,  which  is  represented,  for  one  thing,  by 
a  similarity  in  speed  in  the  strokes  which  are  similar  in  character  and 
by  a  lack  of  suddenness  and  abruptness  in  the  transition  from  slow  to 
rapid  movement. 

The  elements  of  a  good  writing  co-ordination,  as  determined  by  a 
study  of  the  foregoing  records  and  others  which  cannot  be  presented, 
include  the  following  items: 

1.  The  organization  of  the  movement  into  units. 

2.  The  arrangement  of  the  division  points  between  units  to  corre- 
spond to  the  forms  to  be  produced. 

3.  The  execution  of  each  unit  in  a  well  co-ordinated  manner : 

a)  With  the  greatest  speed,  in  general,  in  the  middle  of  the  stroke. 

b)  With  a  correspondence  between  the  speed  of  the  movement 
and  the  length  and  simpUcity  of  the  stroke. 

4.  Consistency  or  the  production  of  the  successive  strokes  with 
similar  speed  changes.  (Allowance  must  be  made  for  variations  due  to 
differences  in  the  form  of  successive  letters.) 


CHAPTER  IV 

STATISTIC.\L  COMPARISON  OF  THE  TYPES  OF  POSITION  AND 
MOVEMENT  OF  GOOD  AND  POOR  WRITERS 

HAND    POSITION 

The  foregoing  inspection  of  typical  cases  gives  the  impression 
that  some  features  of  hand  position  and  movement  and  some  types 
of  speed  changes  are  favorable  to  good  writing  while  others  are 
unfavorable.  This  inspection  is  supplemented  by  the  following 
statistical  tables  in  order  to  give  the  comparisons  an  objective 
numerical  character  and  to  avoid  the  possible  error  which  may 
arise  from  the  selection  of  a  few  cases  for  study.  The  comparison 
was  made  by  the  following  method.  For  each  feature  of  the  posi- 
tion which  seems  worth  while  to  study  certain  descriptions  are  laid 
down  to  distinguish  the  groups  into  which  the  writers  can  be 
classified.     The  nature  of  these  classes  will  be  clear  from  Table  I. 

Each  individual  is  classified  according  to  each  item  of  position, 
and  the  classifications  are  entered  in  a  table  along  with  those  of  the 
other  subjects  of  the  same  group.  In  some  cases  a  subject  is 
entered  in  two  or  more  classes  because  his  position  varied  in 
different  parts  of  the  writing.  After  these  tables  were  completed 
the  number  and  percentage  of  cases  in  which  each  position  occurred 
were  calculated  for  each  group  of  subjects,  and  the  results  from  the 
different  groups  were  then  compared. 

HAND    POSITION    OF    CHILDREN 

Table  II  presents  the  summary  of  the  results  from  the  children. 
This  table  is  to  be  read  as  follows.  Among  the  poor  writers  of  the 
University  Elementary  School  two  cases  of  the  first  position  with 
respect  to  pronation  (with  wrist  nearly  level)  were  observed.  These 
constituted  8  per  cent  of  the  cases  in  this  group  of  children.  Eight 
cases,  constituting  29  per  cent,  of  the  first  position  in  hand  support 
(upon  the  fingeis)  were  observed. 

96 


STA  r  I  STIC.  1 L  COM  PA  RISON 


97 


The  first  outstanding  fact  to  be  observed  in  Table  II  is  that 
there  is  a  wide  variation  in  position  both  among  good  and  among 
poor  writers.  Some  good  and  some  poor  writers  are  to  be  found 
who  employ  every  position  which  is  found  to  exist  at  all.     Nor  are 

TABLE  I 

Basis  of  Classification  of  the  Individuals  According  to  Their 
Hand  Position 


A.  Degree  of  pronation 


1.  Wrist  level,  or  tilted  less  than  io° 

2.  Wrist  tilted  io°  to  45° 

3.  Wrist  tilted  45°  or  more 


I .  On  the  third  and  fourth  fingers 
B.  Support  of  the  hand         <{  2.  On  the  side  of  the  hand 

On  the  base  of  the  hand 


C.  Angle  of  the  arm  with 
the  base  line  of  the  writ- 
ing 


D.  Angle  of  the  penholder 
with  direction  of  down- 
strokes 


E.  Angle  of  penholder  with 
arm 


F.  Relation  of  finger  and 
thumb  on  penholder 


G.  Looseness  of  grasp  of 
penholder 


Nearly  perpendicular 

10°  to  30°  from  the  perpendicular  to  the  right 
30°  to  60°  from  the  perpendicular  to  the  right 
To  the  left  of  the  perpendicular 


1.  Less  than  10° 

o  -  o 

2.  10     to  30 

3.  30°  to  60° 

4.  60°  to  90° 

1 .  Nearly  o 

2.  10°  to  30°  to  the  right 

3.  10°  to  30°  to  the  left 

4.  30°  to  60°  to  the  right 
[5.  60°  to  90°  to  the  right 

f  I .  Finger  below  thumb 
{  2.  Finger  opposite  thumb 
(3.  Finger  above  thumb 

fi.  Loose 
{ 2.  Medium 
l3-  Tight 


these  cases  extreme  or  exceptional.  In  general,  the  differences 
between  groups  of  good  and  poor  writers  are  small  compared  with 
differences  within  each  group.  The  differences  which  are  produced 
by  training  are  rather  marked. 

Before  proceeding  to  an  analysis  in  detail  of  the  differences  in 
position  we  may  pause  to  consider  the  significance  of  their  small- 
ness.     There  are  several  possible  explanations.     The  one  which 


98 


THE  HANDWRITING  MOVEMENT 


s 

in  P< 
g  OS 

o 

O 

si 

OC    vC     lO 

•*o  o 

1-,     ro  w- 

^  r^  ON 

t^  CO 
»0  Tj- 

o  =o   c<- 

o  o 

lO  lO 

6 

■"too    o 

w  lo  r^ 

t^  CO  >->      . 

00  O 

r)-  CO  rH      . 

^  r^ 

4  S  w 
III 

>  fc<  K 

w  go 

fci 

si 

t^    On    Tj- 

M   00 
00    M 

CO  r^ 

On 

3C 

CO 

o 
o 

M 

6 

O    On  ro 

00     t    <N 

ON  <N 

CO  w 

r^ 

M 

00 

is 

M 

Th    <N     H     M 

CO  c^    ^    >-i 

■^  OnnO   r~-  -*     O    O    O 
H    M    CO          "        CO  M  O 

O  O  0  o 

IN    T^   CO  w 

O    O   O    0   o 

^    M     cs     ^)     M 

6 

2; 

r^  Tl-  lo  CO 

CN)     -^    CO    H 

T^    M      CS      (N)      M 

h  «  P« 
O  W  H 

i§l 

P 

CL,    C 

H    lOO     On 
M     CM     CO   "N 

NO  CO    O<00 
M    CO  r^ 

NO  NO     On 
CO  CO  <N 

M      M     M   NO 

rj-  Tf  M 

CO  CO  lO 

M      lY^    M      CO 
CO    CH      CO    OJ 

6 

2: 

CO  r^  O  00 

l-H 

M    lo  t^  ir> 

lO  lO  -rj- 

r^  r^  (N    M 

M      UO    C-l 

•^    C^     -^    CO 

o  a 
w  < 

Him 

S5  O 
<  H 

U 

,    bo 

t^    On  t^   t^ 

^  o 

CO    " 

OO  OO    CO  CO 

CO    CO    H<      HH 

CO   <M     lO 

coo 

t^  0   t^  t^ 

^     lO    M      M 

Ol  CO 

6 
IS 

ir^  O    ^    ^ 

M 

\0  NO    N    oi 

t--    CO    M 

rj  o    tNi    M 

lo  r^ 

H 

2 

a 
z 

< 

X 

pq 

On   m 

00     "N 

r^  CO 

Tj-  lO 

M      ON 

ci  cc 

O   O 

00    cs 

6 

00     O 

ID    CO 

M 

t^OO 

<N)        lO 

lO  f-^ 

•       OO     <N 

O 

H 
< 
Z 

o 

0« 
Ph 

< 

1    M) 

00  00    ■* 

(O  lO 

NO      O      ^ 
lO   Tl- 

r^  CO  O 

M      CO    >^ 

■      O    O    O 

•      O    CO  M 

•       CO    t^  ir> 

■       COOO  00 

•         CO  W-) 

1 

<N     O     Tt- 

M     HI 

w    ceo 

N    '^O 

CN)  \0    ^ 

•       1-1  00    CO 

•      Tt  r^  M 

11 

M    CN    ro  "; 

^  u 

O        M     M     CO   -^ 

t  u 

0         M      P)      CO    T 

t-  ^ 

O        M     M     CO  T 

r  ^ 

O        M     CN     CO   T 

r  K 

O        h-l     M      CO   '^ 

i-ii 

T 

o 

O 

a. 
.  a 

11 

w  I 

•  c 
>  c 

t3 

• 

c 
t 

3 

3 

i 

.    Q. 

t 

c 

"o 

o 

c/: 

B 

'S 

S2 

> 

-a 
o 
o 
O 

.  a 

si 

.  c 
>  c 

5 

i 

1/3 

;-! 

u 
o 

O 

2, 

O 
O 

u 

>N 

52 

O 
O 

o 

STATISTICAL  COMPARISON  99 

most  readily  comes  to  mind  is  that  differences  in  position  are 
simply  expressions  of  individuality  in  behavior,  or  accidental  varia- 
tions, which  have  no  significance  at  all  for  skill  in  writing.  This 
conclusion  is  valid  only  where  the  differences  are  so  small  or  irregu- 
lar as  to  be  ascribed  to  chance.  If  they  are  large  enough  and 
regular  enough,  on  the  other  hand,  to  make  it  probable  that  they 
will  be  found  wherever  good  and  poor  writers  are  compared,  then 
they  are  of  significance,  even  though  their  significance  be  slight. 

Where  a  clear  difference  between  the  positions  of  good  and 
poor  writers  exists,  as  it  does  in  a  number  of  instances,  why  is  it  not 
more  pronounced  ?  Evidently  because  there  are  other  causes  than 
hand  position  which  affect  the  writing.  We  have  already  found  in 
the  previous  inspection  that  among  these  further  factors  are  the 
kind  of  movement  and  the  nature  of  speed  changes.  In  addition, 
the  disposition  and  ability  to  perceive  forms  accurately  and  to 
exercise  care  in  their  production  undoubtedly  influence  neatness 
and  accuracy  of  writing.  It  is  possible,  then,  to  adopt  a  hand 
position  which  is  not  the  most  advantageous  and  still  write  fairly 
well,  because  certain  other  requirements  are  met.  On  the  other 
hand,  it  is  possible  to  adopt  the  hand  position  which  general  expe- 
rience indicates  to  be  favorable  and  still  write  poorly,  because 
the  movement  is  not  well  organized  or  the  writing  is  not  done 
carefully. 

Another  possible  reason  for  the  lack  of  sharp  distinction  between 
the  hand  positions  of  good  and  poor  writers  is  that  the  degree  of 
difference  between  the  two  groups  is  not  extreme.  If  the  good 
wTiters  had  been  nearly  perfect  writers  it  may  be  that  we  should 
have  found  them  to  use  a  more  nearly  uniform  type  of  hand  position. 
But  the  problem  of  training  elementary-school  children  in  writing 
is  not  the  same  as  the  problem  of  training  professional  penmen. 
The  distinction  betwen  the  problems  is  frequently  not  clearly  recog- 
nized. The  consequence  is  that  a  too  rigid  adherence  to  what  is 
regarded  as  the  best  method,  \yhich  may  be  suitable  when  a  very 
high  degree  of  skill  is  desired,  is  frequently  attempted  in  teaching 
school  children.  The  attempt  in  large  measure  fails,  and  much  of 
the  effort  is  wasted.  The  excess  effort  might  be  saved  if  less  exact- 
ing requirements  were  made. 


lOO  THE  HANDWRITING  MOVEMENT 

The  question  as  to  which  elements  of  hand  position  are  the  most 
important,  and  the  range  of  variabihty  which  it  is  probably  wise  to 
allow,  leads  us  to  a  more  detailed  examination  of  Table  II. 

We  shall  make  the  following  comparisons  with  reference  to  each 
t>pe  of  hand  position:  between  the  good  and  poor  writers  in  the 
University  Elementary  School  and  in  the  Ray  School;  between 
corresponding  classes  of  writers  in  the  two  schools;  and  between 
the  poor  writers  in  the  University  Elementary  School  before  and 
after  training. 

A.  Degree  of  pronation  or  levelness  of  wrist. — A  level  wrist  is  but 
little  more  common  among  the  good  writers  in  the  University 
Elementary  School  than  among  the  poor  writers,  particularly  when 
we  combine  into  one  group  all  whose  wrists  were  tilted  more  than 
45°.  In  the  Ray  School,  however,  where  presumably  emphasis  is 
laid  upon  this  feature,  the  good  writers  exhibit  it  in  greater  pro- 
portion than  do  the  poor  writers.  The  effect  of  training  appears 
also  in  the  fact  that  both  classes  in  the  public  school  hold  their 
wrists  more  nearly  level  than  do  the  pupils  in  the  University 
Elementary  School.  Furthermore,  special  training  caused  a 
marked  increase  in  levelness  in  the  University  Elementary  School 
group. 

Conclusion. — A  wrist  tilted  not  more  than  45°  from  the  hori- 
zontal, while  not  essential  to  good  writing  and  not  insuring  good 
writing,  is  a  position  which  good  writers  take  somewhat  more 
readily  under  training  than  poor  ones.  Its  relation  to  training  is 
clearer  than  its  relation  to  skill  independent  of  training.  This 
evidence  by  itself  does  not  indicate  that  great  stress  should  be 
laid  upon  this  feature. 

B.  Support  of  the  hand. — There  is  a  greater  difference  between 
the  good  and  poor  groups  in  both  schools  in  this  characteristic 
than  in  the  levelness  of  wrist,  the  support  of  the  hand  on  the  lingers 
being  preferable  to  the  support  on  the  side  of  the  hand.  This 
element  also  is  very  susceptible  to  training,  which  affects  writers  of 
native  skill  more  than  those  not  so  well  endowed. 

Conclusion. — The  indications  are  that  the  support  of  the  hand 
by  the  third  and  fourth  fingers  instead  of  on  the  side  of  the  hand 
is  distinctly  preferable. 


ST  A  riSTICA  L  COM  PA  RISON  i  o  i 

C.  Angle  of  the  arm  with  the  line  of  writing. — In  this  feature  we 
have  a  characteristic  which  is  evidently  not  affected  by  the  train- 
ing in  the  Ray  School  as  compared  with  that  in  the  University 
Elementary  School.  We  have  therefore  an  opportunity  to  observe 
its  relation  to  good  writing  uncomplicated  by  differences  in  training. 
In  both  schools  the  better  writers  more  commonly  than  the  poor 
ones  write  with  their  arms  approximately  at  right  angles  to  the 
line  of  writing.  In  the  latter  group  a  position  in  which  the  elbow 
is  shifted  to  the  right,  reducing  the  angle  on  the  right-hand  side, 
predominates.  Attention  was  given  to  this  feature  in  the  training 
class  of  the  University  Elementary  School,  with  the  result  that  the 
perpendicular  position  of  the  arm  became  more  common. 

Conclusion. — A  position  of  the  forearm  at  right  angles  to  the  line 
of  writing  is  the  preferred  one. 

D.  Angle  of  the  penholder  with  the  downstrokes  of  the  letters. — 
This  feature  and  the  next  one,  the  angle  of  the  penholder  with  the 
arm,  are  concerned  with  the  finer  details  of  hand  position.  The 
direction  of  the  penholder  is  influenced  by  the  degree  of  pronation 
(levelness  of  the  wTist)  and  by  the  position  of  the  arm,  but  it  is  also 
influenced  by  the  finer  adjustments  of  the  fingers  independently 
of  the  gross  position  of  the  hand.  The  angle  of  the  penholder  with 
the  downstrokes  is  related  to  the  angle  which  it  makes  with  the  arm, 
but  the  two  are  not  identical.  While  these  two  features,  then, 
are  related  to  each  other  and  to  others  which  have  already  been 
described  they  are  to  some  extent  independent  and  deserve  separate 
treatment. 

The  older  orthodox  position  of  the  penholder  is  one  in  which  it 
points  toward  the  right  ear  or  shoulder.  This  means  that  it  should 
point  to  the  left  of  the  forearm  and  approximately  in  the  direction 
of  the  downstrokes.  This  requirement  is  commonly  relaxed  in 
modern  systems,  but  it  is  still  considered  desirable  that  the  pen- 
holder should  point  somew^hat  to  the  left  of  the  forearm,  which 
would  bring  it  ordinarily  nearly  in  the  direction  of  the  downstrokes. 

From  the  results  of  our  study  no  clear  relation  is  manifest  be- 
tween good  writing  and  the  angle  of  the  penholder  to  downstrokes. 
The  distribution  of  good  and  poor  writers  in  the  University  Ele- 
mentary School  is  very  much  the  same,  except  that  ii  per  cent  of 


I02  THE  HANDWRITING  MOVEMENT 

the  poor  writers  hold  the  penholder  more  nearly  in  the  direction  of 
the  downstroke  than  any  of  the  good  writers.  In  the  Ray  School 
a  larger  percentage  of  the  good  writers  than  of  the  poor  writers  hold 
the  pen  in  this  position,  but  a  larger  percentage  of  good  writers  hold 
the  pen  at  a  considerable  angle  to  the  downstrokes  also.  On  the 
other  hand,  this  feature  of  the  position  seems  to  be  considerably 
influenced  by  training,  which,  in  the  cases  before  us,  causes  the 
penholder  to  point  more  nearly  in  the  direction  of  the  downstrokes 
than  it  otherwise  would. 

Conclusion. — The  evidence  indicates  that  a  small  angle  between 
the  penholder  and  the  downstrokes  is  more  largely  an  artificial 
product  of  training  than  a  factor  in  good  writing  and  does  not 
merit  especial  emphasis. 

E.  Angle  of  penholder  with  arm. — The  significance  of  the  angle 
of  the  penholder  with  the  arm  is  ambiguous,  as  is  its  angle  to  the 
letter  strokes.  In  the  University  Elementary  School  a  larger  per- 
centage of  good  writers  than  of  poor  writers  hold  the  pen  to  the 
left  of  the  forearm,  but  among  the  Ray  School  children  the  preferred 
position  is  in  a  line  with  the  forearm.  The  effects  of  training  also 
are  not  uniform. 
/'^  Conclusion. — Our  results  do  not  point  to  any  position  of  the 
Xpenholder  as  being  decidedly  better  than  the  others. 
"^  F.  Relative  position  of  finger  and  thumb  on  the  penholder. — 
It  will  be  remembered  that  in  commenting  upon  the  hand  position 
of  one  of  the  poor  writers  it  was  noted  that  the  forefinger  was 
situated  opposite  the  thumb  in  the  grasp  of  the  penholder.  The 
statistics  with  reference  to  this  feature  of  the  grasp  of  the  pen- 
holder have  been  collected  in  column  F  of  Table  II.  It  appears 
from  an  inspection  of  this  table  that  it  is  possible  to  train  pupils  so 
that  they  will  uniformly  place  the  finger  below  the  thumb,  which  is 
the  natural  position  on  account  of  the  greater  length  of  the  finger 
than  of  the  thumb.  When  children  are  not  particularly  trained 
to  take  this  position,  however,  there  is  a  disposition  to  draw  the 
finger  upward  and  to  place  it  either  opposite  to  the  thumb  or  above 
it.  In  the  case  of  such  pupils  a  large  number  take  one  or  the  other 
of  these  positions.  There  is  a  distinct  difference,  however,  be- 
tween the  good  writers  and  the  poor  writers  in  this  respect.     Most 


STATISTICAL  COMPARISON  103 

of  the  good  writers  place  the  finger  in  the  more  natural  position, 

that  is,  below  the  thumb.     The  result  of  the  training  has  been  to 

make  this  position  almost  universal. 

/^     Conclusion. — It  is  much  more  advantageous  to  grasp  the  pen- 

\   holder  in  such  a  way  that  the  finger  rests  upon  it  below  the  thumb, 

/    and  this  position  is  readily  susceptible  to  training. 

G.  Looseness  of  grasp  of  penholder. — In  column  G  of  Table  II 
another  characteristic  is  represented  which  is  not  susceptible  of 
such  exact  definition  and  classification  as  is  the  relationship  between 
the  finger  and  the  thumb.  The  looseness  of  grasp  of  the  pen- 
holder can  be  judged  only  to  an  approximate  degree.  It  is  possible, 
however,  by  the  observation  of  a  writer  or  of  the  motion-picture 
records  to  judge  roughly  whether  the  penholder  is  grasped  tightly 
or  loosely.  There  appears  in  this  respect  also  to  be  a  marked  dif- 
ference between  the  grasp  of  good  writers  and  that  of  poor  writers. 
There  is  also  a  distinct  difterence  in  the  grasp  of  the  poor  writers 
before  and  after  training.  After  training  none  of  them  grasp  the 
penholder  tightly,  while  before  half  of  them  did  so.  In  the  public 
schools  the  training  has  evidently  almost  eliminated  the  tight 
grasp  of  the  pen. 
(^  Conclusion. — It  is  much  more  advantageous  to  grasp  the  pen- 
holder with  a  reasonable  degree  of  lightness  than  to  grasp  it  tightly, 
and  it  is  possible  with  a  moderate  amount  of  training  to  produce 
the  light  grasp  of  the  pen. 

HAND    POSITION    OF    ADULTS 

We  have  seen  that  the  interpretation  of  facts  which  we  discover 
in  the  study  of  children's  writing  is  complicated  by  the  effects  of 
differences  in  training.  For  the  purpose  of  discovering  what  differ- 
ences between  good  and  poor  writers  are  to  be  found  when  the 
results  of  school  training  have  been  overlaid  with  the  habits  built 
up  in  later  practice,  seventeen  adults  were  studied.  Nine  of  these 
were  classified  as  poor  writers  and  eight  as  good  writers,  although 
the  contrast  between  the  two  groups  is  not  always  sharp.  A  sum- 
mary of  the  hand  positions  which  are  characteristic  of  the  two 
groups  is  given  in  Table  III,  which  is  constructed  in  the  same 
manner  as  Table  II. 


I04 


THE  HANDWRITING  MOVEMENT 


As  in  Table  II,  the  total  number  of  cases  does  not  always 

agree  with  the  number  of  individuals,  because  the  same  individual 

sometimes  employed  more  than  one  position.     In  a  few  cases, 

among  adults,  the  records  were  defective  and  the  cases  could  not 

be  recorded.     The  statistical  comparisons,  for  this  reason  as  well 

as  on  account  of  the  small  number  of  cases,  must  be  interpreted 

broadly. 

TABLE  III 

Comparison  of  the  F"requenxy  of  the  Various  Hand  Positions  among  Two 

Groups  of  Adults 


Position 

Pronation 

Hand 
Support 

Angle  of 

Arm  to 

Base  Line 

Angle  of 
Penholder 
to  Down- 
strokes 

Angle  of 

Penholder 

TO  Arm 

Group 

A 

B 

c 

D 

E 

No. 

Per- 
cent- 
age 

No. 

Per- 
cent- 
age 

jper- 
No.    cent- 
age 

No. 

Per- 
cent- 
age 

Per- 
No.    cent- 
age 

I 

2 

3 

4 

2 
2 

5 

22 
22 
56 

4 
5 

44 
56 

5 

63 

2    1    25 
2    1    25 
1     ''     11 

Poor  writers.                .  .    i 

7 

I 

88 
13 

3 

38 

3 

38 

c 

1 

I 

2 

3 

4 

4 
3 

I 

50 
38 
13 

7 

100 

6 

75 

2 

I 

4 

25 
13 
50 

I 
6 

I 

13 
75 
13 

Good  writers i 

2 

25 

1 

I 

13 

i 

The  contrast  between  the  two  groups  of  adults  is  similar  in 
the  main  to  that  found  between  the  groups  of  children.  The 
good  writers  do  not,  as  a  rule,  turn  the  hand  over  to  the  right  more 
than  45°,  and  they  support  the  hand  on  the  lingers  rather  than  rest 
it  on  the  side.  There  is  not  so  much  contrast  in  the  angle  of  the 
arm  to  the  line  of  writing,  but  the  good  writers  do  not  shift  the 
elbo\y  to  the  left  of  the  perpendicular,  as  do  some  of  the  poor  ones. 
One  of  the  good  writers  who  held  his  elbow  to  the  right  of  the 
perpendicular  may  be  said  to  constitute  an  exception,  since  he  wrote 
with  unusual  care  and  shifted  his  whole  arm  at  frequent  intervals 
during  the  writing  of  a  line.  This  was  not  found  to  be  generally 
characteristic  of  rapid  adult  writing.     The  difference  which  exists 


STATISTICAL  COMPARISON  105 

in  the  angle  of  the  penholder  with  the  arm  correlates  with  the  differ- 
ence in  pronation.  Three  of  the  poor  writers  point  the  penholder 
from  30°  to  60°  to  the  right  of  the  arm.  This  was  due  to  turning 
the  hand  far  over  to  the  right.  The  one  good  writer  who  held  the 
penholder  more  than  60°  to  the  right  raised  it  far  up  toward  a  posi- 
tion perpendicular  to  the  paper,  and,  in  spite  of  turning  the  hand 
over  about  45°,  kept  the  hand  moving  freely  along  the  line. 

SUMMARY 

It  is  significant  that  the  features  of  hand  position  which  are  most 
clearly  indicated  to  be  favorable  to  good  writing — the  support  of  the 
hand  upon  the  fingers,  a  position  of  the  forearm  perpendicular  to  the 
line  of  writing,  and,  to  a  less  degree,  an  amount  of  pronation  such  that 
the  wrist  is  not  tilted  more  than  45°  from  the  horizontal — are  intimately 
connected  with  one  of  the  major  handwriting  movements,  namely,  the 
movement  of  the  hand  from  left  to  right  across  the  page.  Upward  and 
downward  movements  of  the  pen  can  be  made  easily  enough  with  the 
hand  resting  on  the  side,  but  this  position  impedes  movement  across 
the  page  from  left  to  right.  The  impeding  of  this  movement  either 
causes  the  hand  to  be  cramped  after  one  or  two  letters  have  been  written 
or  makes  it  necessary  to  interrupt  the  letter  formation  to  lift  the  hand  or 
to  slide  it  along.  The  hand  cannot  readily  slide  along  while  the  letters 
are  being  formed  because  it  is  too  firmly  planted. 

When  we  come  to  the  description  of  the  training  course  we  shall 
see  that- the  method  there  employed  applies  these  principles.  No  pains 
are  spared  to  insure  that  the  child  shall  hold  his  hand  so  that  it  can  slide 
easily  on  the  third  and  fourth  fingers,  preferably  on  the  nails.  To 
this  requirement  is  added  one  of  lightness  of  grasp.  This  character- 
istic seemed  from  observation  to  belong  particularly  to  the  good  writers. 
Furthermore,  it  is  necessary  to  secure  the  relation  between  the  position 
of  the  arm  and  of  the  paper  which  is  indicated  by  our  study  to  be  the 
best.  When  the  writer  faces  the  desk  and  bends  his  arm  so  that  his 
hand  is  directly  in  front  of  him,  his  forearm  makes  an  angle  of  about 
60°  with  the  edge  of  the  desk.  In  order  that  the  forearm  shall  be  at 
light  angles  to  the  line  of  writing  it  is  necessary  to  place  the  paper  so 
that  the  bottom  edge  is  at  an  angle  of  about  30°  to  the  edge  of  the  desk. 
The  plainest  way  to  state  this  requirement  is  to  say  that  the  line  of  writ- 
ing should  be  approximately  parallel  to  the  diagonal  from  the  lower 
left  corner  to  the  upper  right  corner  of  the  desk. 


io6  THE  HANDWRITING  MOVEMENT 

In  order  to  insure  that  the  pupil  shall  keep  this  position  of  the  arm, 
and  that  the  arm  shall  be  able  to  move  freely,  the  body  must  face  the 
desk  and  must  be  kept  erect,  so  that  its  weight  does  not  rest  on  the 
writing  arm.  The  weight  of  the  arm  rests  upon  the  right  forearm,  but 
the  weight  of  the  body  should  not.  A  Uttle  more  weight  may  rest  upon 
the  left  arm,  since  it  steadies  the  body,  but  the  right  arm  should  be  kept 
free. 

In  order  to  develop  further  this  sideward  phase  of  the  writing  move- 
ment and  to  make  the  pupil  aware  of  the  position  he  should  take  to  make 
it  possible,  exercises  in  the  side-to-side  movement  were  given.  These 
are  the  only  strictly  movement  exercises  that  were  included  in  the 
course.  They  will  be  described  in  the  account  of  the  manual  of  direc- 
tions for  the  course. 


THE    COMPOSITION    OF    THE    WRITING    MOVEMENT 

The  most  detailed  study  of  the  composition  of  the  writing 
movement  was  made  in  the  intensive  laboratory  study.  Some 
of  the  chief  matters  concerning  it  were  also  studied  by  Mr.  Nutt  with 
a  larger  number  of  children.  The  results  of  his  study  support  the 
conclusions  drawn  from  the  laboratory  study  and  will  be  presented 
after  the  results  of  the  intensive  study. 

The  method  which  was  used  in  studying  the  composition  of 
the  writing  was  in  substance  the  same  as  that  employed  in  studying 
the  hand  position.  At  first  the  films  were  run  through  the  pro- 
jection apparatus  and  inspected  as  one  looks  at  an  ordinary  moving 
picture.  But  in  this  case  the  film  was  run  slowly  or  rapidly  at  the 
will  of  the  observer,  or  it  was  run  back  in  order  to  repeat  a  section 
which  he  wished  to  study  further.  This  inspection  enabled  the 
observer  to  get  a  general  idea  of  the  types  of  movement  of  the 
various  writers,  but  it  gave  no  means  of  making  measurements  or 
of  demonstrating  the  results  of  the  observations  in  a  report. 
Accordingly,  certain  pairs  of  photographs  were  selected  which 
when  compared  brought  out  clearly  the  kind  of  movement  which 
took  place  in  the  interval  between  them.  These  pairs  represented 
the  position  of  the  hand  and  arm  at  the  top  and  bottom  of  letters, 
at  the  beginning  and  end  of  words,  and  at  the  beginning  and  end 
of  lines. 


STATISTICAL  COMPARISON  107 

Before  passing  to  the  detailed  study  of  these  selected  aspects 
of  movement,  a  feature  of  the  writing  movement  of  most  of  the 
writers  which  cannot  well  be  brought  out  by  a  study  of  its  cross- 
sections,  but  which  is  very  evident  in  the  motion  picture  itself,  is 
worthy  of  emphasis.  Whenever  we  attempt  to  describe  the  writ- 
ing movement  either  for  purposes  of  scientific  presentation  or  to 
lay  down  rules  of  conduct  we  are  forced  to  pick  out  certain  elements 
of  the  movement  and  isolate  them  from  the  complete  movement. 
In  doing  this  we  are  bound  to  fail  to  do  justice  to  the  variety  and 
flexibility  of  the  actual  movement  as  it  can  be  observed  directly, 
or  especially  by  means  of  the  motion  picture.  There  is  too  much 
disposition  to  think  of  the  movement  as  made  either  with  the 
fingers  alone  while  the  hand,  wrist,  and  arm  remain  quiet,  or 
with  the  arm  alone  while  the  rest  of  the  hand,  including  the  fingers, 
is  as  immovable  as  if  it  were  cast  in  iron.  Nothing  could  be 
further  from  the  truth.  The  hand  is  a  remarkably  flexible  member 
and  is  capable  of  adjustments  and. changes  in  shape  and  position 
which  are  so  various  and  numerous  in  their  combinations  that  it  is 
hopeless  to  try  to  catalogue  and  describe  them  completely.  De- 
tailed descriptions  are  not  necessary.  What  is  necessary  is  that 
along  with  the  more  prominent  elements  of  the  movement  we 
should  recognize  these  minor  supplementary  elements  and  admit 
them  into  good  standing  as  fellow-servants  with  their  better-known 
companions. 

As  in  the  study  of  hand  positions,  each  kind  of  movement  was 
classified  in  the  present  study.  There  were  thus  distinguished 
several  methods  by  which  the  hand  is  carried  along  within  words 
and  between  words,  and  several  movements  which  are  used  in 
forming  the  letters.     These  classes  are  indicated  in  Table  IV. 

The  frequency  of  the  different  kinds  of  movements  which  are 
represented  in  Table  IV  is  shown  in  Table  V.  This  table  is  to 
be  interpreted  in  the  same  manner  as  the  table  which  represents 
the  different  kinds  of  hand  position.  Of  the  poor  writers  eight  made 
the  movement  within  words  by  an  adjustment  within  the  hand, 
ten  made  this  movement  by  a  sideward  adjustment  of  the  wrist, 
eleven  by  a  backward  wrist  movement,  eleven  by  turning  the  hand 
over  to  the  right,  and  nine  by  a  sideward  movement  of  the  forearm. 


io8 


THE  HANDWRITING  MOVEMENT 


A.  Tlie  movement  within  ivords. — In  the  case  of  movement 
within  words  several  distinctions  between  the  good  and  the  poor 
writers  may  be  observed.  The  adjustment  within  the  hand,  Class  i , 
is  made  infrequently  in  some  of  the  groups  of  good  writers  and  not  at 
all  in  others.  It  is  more  common,  however,  among  poor  writers. 
This  is  the  case  both  in  the  University  Elementary  School  and  in 
the  Ray  School.     It  is  not  found,  however,  in  the  case  of  adults. 

TABLE  IV 

Basis  of  Classification  of  Individuals  According  to  Their  Writing 

Movement 

Adjustment  within  the  hand 
Sideward  wrist  movement 
Backward  wrist  movement 
Turning  hand  over  to  the  right 
Sideward  movement  of  the  forearm 
Turning  hand  over  to  the  left 


Side-to-side  movement  within 
words 


B.  Side-to-side  movement  between  < 
words  or  word  groups 


Sideward    movement    of   the   forearm 
pivoted  at  the  elbow  or  muscle-pad 
Turning  hand  over  to  right 
Lifting  arm  and  shifting 
Wrist  movement 


C.  Movement  on  letter  strokes 


fi.  Movement  of  the  whole  arm 

2.  Movement  of  the  hand  at  wrist  joint 

1 3.  Movement  of  lingers  mostly  at  third 
1  joints 

1 4.  Movement  of  fingers  mostly  at  second 
[  joints  (ordinary  finger  movement) 


fi.  Easy 
D.  Ease  of  movement  along  the  line  <  2.  Moderately  easy 

[3.  Difficult 

They  have  evidently  been  subject  to  sufficient  training  to  eliminate 
this  kind  of  adjustment.  An  adjustment  within  the  hand  during 
the  writing  of  a  word  means  almost  inevitably  cramping  the  hand 
toward  the  end  of  the  word.  It  means  that  the  fingers  are  drawn 
inward  usually,  so  that  the  hand  is  more  compact  at  the  end  of  the 
word  than  at  the  beginning.  Of  the  other  classes  of  sideward 
movement,  the  clearest  case  can  be  made  out  for  the  side-to-side 
movement  of  the  forearm,  Class  5.  This  is  uniformly  more  fre- 
quent in  the  good  writers  than  in  the  poor  writers,  and  in  the  case 
of  some  of  the  groups  the  difference  is  marked.     Of  the  other 


STA  TISTICAL  COM  PA  RISON 


Tog 


TABLE  V 

Comparison  of  thk  Frkquency  of  Various  Kinds  of  Movement  among  Several 
Groups  of  Children  and  Adults 


Classe 

OF 

Move- 
ment 

Side-to-Side 

Movement 

WITHIN  Words 

Side-to-Side 

Movement 

between  Words 

Movement  on 
Letter  Strokes 

Ease  of  Move- 
ment along  Line 

Group 

A 

B 

C 

D 

No. 

Per- 
centage 

No. 

Per- 
centage 

No. 

Per- 
centage 

No.          Pf- 
centage 

Univ.  Elem. 
School: 
Poor  writers 
(entire  group) 

1.  .  . 

2.  .  .  . 
3  ■••• 
4 

is---- 

1 .  .  .  . 

2.  .  .  . 

3.  ... 
4 

is---- 

I .  .  .  . 

2  .  .  .  . 

3- ■■- 
4.... 

5-  •  -  • 
,6.... 

'i  .  .  .  . 

2  .  .  .  . 

3  ■■- 

4 

5  •  •  -  - 

1 .  .  .  . 

2.  .  .  . 

3- ■•- 

4 

5.... 

I .  . .  . 

8 

10 
II 
II 
9 
6 
5 
9 
6 

5 
2 

5 
6 
2 

5 
I 

I 
12 

3 
2 

14 

4 
3 
5 
2 

5 

r6 
20 
22 
22 
18 

19 
l6 

29 
19 
16 

10 
24 
29 
10 

24 

5 

3 

38 

9 

6 

44 

21 
16 
26 
II 
26 

1 1 

7 

19 

30 
19 
51 

6 
16 

4 
18 

14 

36 

9 

AI 

r 

12 
9 

5 
55 

1     41 

Univ.  Elem. 
School: 
Poor  writers  who 
took  training 

1 

6 

3 
13 

27 
14 
59 

3           10 

12 

2 

13 

40 

7 
43 

8 
6 

57 
43 

Univ.  Elem. 
School: 
,Good  writers 

9 
5 
9 
I 

38 

21 

38 

4 

3 
9 
3 
8 

13 
39 
13 
35 

5 
6 

I 

42 

50 

8 

Univ.  Elem. 
School : 
Poor  writers 
after  training 

9 

I 

II 

I 

41 

5 

50 

S 

II 
6 

I 
2 

55 

30 

5 

10 

6 

7 

I 

43 
50 

7 

Ray  School: 
Poor  writers 

6 

50 

7 

I 

47 

7 

3 
6- 

I 

30 
60 

5 

I 

42 
8 

10 

7 

47 

6 

55 

5 
5 

28 

28 

8 

100 

Ra)-  School: 
Good  writers 

2.  .  .  . 

3.... 
4.  .  .  . 

4 
4 

25 
25 

5 

45 

8 

44 



5.  .  .  . 
I .  .  .  . 

8 

50 

3 

SO 

4 

I 
4 
8 

24 
6 

24 

47 

Adults: 

Poor  writers 

2.  .  .  . 
3-  •  ■  ■ 

6 

67 

3 

50 

4 

5.... 

I.  .  .  . 

2 
I 

22 
II 

1 

5 

I 
I 

71 
14 
14 

6 

2 
2 
6 

38 
13 
13 
38 

Adults: 

Good  writers 

2.  .  .  . 
X.  .  .  . 

4 

44 

1 

1 

^:. . . 
5. . . . 

I 
4 

II 

44 

no  THE  HANDWRITING  MOVEMENT 

t\^es  of  movement  turning  the  hand  over  toward  the  right  is  uni- 
formly less  frequent  among  the  good  writers  than  among  the  poor 
ones,  but  the  difference  is  not  great. 

Conclusion. — While  the  variety  of  movements  by  which  the 
hand  may  be  carried  along  within  the  word  is  rather  large,  and  the 
differences  between  good  and  poor  writers  are  in  most  cases  not 
large,  the  sideward  movement  of  the  forearm  and  of  the  wrist  are 
shown  to  be  favorable,  while  the  adjustment  within  the  hand  and 
the  turning  of  the  hand  over  toward  the  right  are  unfavorable. 

B.  The  movement  between  words. — The  chief  distinction  which 
is  indicated  with  clearness  in  the  case  of  movement  between  words 
is  that  the  sideward  movement  is  more  favorable  to  good  writing 
than  are  the  other  types  of  movement,  including  turning  the  hand 
over,  or  lifting  the  arm  and  shifting,  or  a  wrist  movement.  The 
difference  is  not  great,  but  it  is  large  enough  to  be  clear,  and  it  is 
uniform  in  the  case  of  each  group. 

Conclusion. — The  sideward  movement  of  the  forearm  is  the  best 
means  of  moving  the  hand  between  words. 

C.  The  composition  of  the  movement  upon  the  letter  strokes.' — 
We  have  here  an  aspect  of  the  movement  on  which  there  is  almost 
complete  agreement  among  teachers  of  penmanship.  Arm- 
movement  writing  is  almost  universally  regarded  as  proven  beyond 
a  doubt  to  be  the  only  efficient  type  of  writing.  It  is  a  bold  person 
who  will  stand  sponsor  among  penmanship  supervisors,  or  even 
among  supervisors  in  general,  to  any  degree  of  finger-movement 
writing,  so  thoroughly  has  the  opinion  been  accepted  that  arm- 
movement  wTiting  is  the  best.  This  feature  of  the  writing,  like  all 
the  others,  however,  must  be  approached  impartially  if  we  are 
to  treat  writing  from  a  scientific  standpoint. 

The  first  fact  to  be  noticed  from  an  examination  of  the  records 
is  that  there  is  not  a  sharp  division  of  the  writers  into  two  classes, 
as  is  commonly  implied  by  the  distinction  drawn  between  arm- 
movement  writers  and  finger  writers.  The  remark  made  above, 
that  the  handwriting  movement  is  a  complex  one  and  is  made  by  a 
flexible  adjustment  of  the  different  parts  of  the  hand  and  arm  to  one 
another,  is  applicable  here.  The  hand  is  not  a  rigid  lever  which  is 
capable  of  only  one  or  two  types  of  movement,  but  it  is  made  up  of 


STATISTICAL  COMPARISON  III 

flexible  parts  which  are  capable  of  a  very  large  number  of  combina- 
tions of  adjustments.  Each  writer  may  almost  be  said  to  represent 
a  type  of  movement  of  his  own  which  is  distinct  from  that  of  all 
others.  The  classification  which  is  here  made,  therefore,  is  not 
intended  to  indicate  a  separation  into  four  entirely  distinct  kinds 
of  movement,  but  rather  a  rough  division  on  the  basis  of  movements 
which  differ  in  their  most  prominent  characteristics  while  they 
merge  into  one  another  when  they  are  completely  described.  A 
very  few  writers  use  the  arm  almost  entirely  in  forming  the  letters, 
although  none  of  those  who  have  been  examined  exclude  the  finger 
movement  absolutely.  Most  writers,  however,  who  use  the  arm 
movement  predominantly,  supplement  it  by  some  movement  of  the 
hand  as  a  whole,  or  of  the  fingers.  Furthermore,  a  great  many 
writers  who  use  finger  movement  chiefly  in  forming  the  letters  also 
use  the  arm  slightly  in  making  the  upward  and  downward  strokes 
as  well  as  in  carrying  the  fingers  along  from  one  letter  to  another. 
The  classes,  then,  into  which  the  writers  have  been  divided  must 
not  be  regarded  as  marking  hard-and-fast  differences. 

We  may  first  compare  the  various  groups  of  individuals  with 
reference  to  the  percentage  who  use  the  arm  movement  and  the 
ordinary  finger  movement,  Classes  i  and  4.  The  frequency  of  arm 
movement  appears  to  be  related  more  closely  to  the  type  of  training 
which  has  been  received  than  to  the  excellence  of  the  writing. 
There  is  no  higher  percentage  of  arm  movement  among  good  writers 
than  among  poor  writers  in  the  University  Elementary  School,  and 
there  is  actually  a  smaller  percentage  among  good  writers  than 
among  poor  writers  in  the  Ray  School.  The  poor  writers  after  train- 
ing, however,  and  the  public-school  group  as  a  whole  use  the  arm 
movement  more  commonly  than  the  University  Elementary  School 
pupils  before  training.  There  is  a  slight  preponderance  of  arm- 
movement  writing  among  the  good  adult  writers,  but  this  may  be 
due  to  the  fact  that  they  are  all  from  professional  educational 
circles,  and  therefore  have  been  drilled  more  than  is  usual  in  this 
type  of  writing.  The  frequency  of  finger-movement  writing  is 
remarkably  constant  in  all  of  the  groups,  varying  from  35  per  cent 
to  47  per  cent.  There  seems  to  be  no  tendency  toward  a  smaller 
percentage  among  the  good  writers,  or  at  least  if  there  is  such  a 


112  THE  HANDWRITING  MOVEMENT 

tendency  it  is  small.  And  furthermore,  training  seems  to  affect 
the  frequency  of  finger-movement  writing  to  a  very  slight  degree. 
This  seems  to  indicate  that  a  certain  amount  of  finger  movement  is 
such  a  fundamental  phase  of  the  writing  movement  that  it  is  next 
to  impossible  to  eliminate  it. 

The  two  types  of  movement  which  seem  to  be  interchangeable 
are  not  the  finger  movement  and  the  hand  movement.  As  has 
already  been  shown,  the  amount  of  finger  movement  remains 
constant.  It  is  possible,  however,  to  substitute  for  the  arm 
movement  a  movement  of  the  whole  hand,  Class  2.  This  move- 
ment is  particularly  frequent  among  the  University  Elementary 
School  pupils  and  is  also  rather  common  among  the  good  writers  of 
the  Ray  School.  It  does  not  appear  so  frequently  among  the 
adults.  The  variation  in  the  proportion  of  arm  movement  and 
hand  movement  does  not  seem  to  correspond  closely  to  the  degree 
of  excellence  of  the  writing.  The  only  suggestion  that  there  is  a 
difference  in  favor  of  arm  movement  is  found  in  the  fact  that  the 
poor  writers  after  training  use  a  larger  amount  of  arm  movement 
and  a  smaller  amount  of  hand  movement.  But  this  difference  is 
not  confirmed  by  a  comparison  of  the  good  and  poor  writers  either 
in  the  University  Elementary  School  or  in  the  Ray  School. 

Conclusion. — It  may  not  be  correct  to  conclude  from  the  results 
which  ha^•e  .been  presented  that  arm-movement  writing  is  of  no 
value.  In  fact  the  author  is  inclined  to  believe  that  it  is  helpful 
in  moderation,  because  it  is  likely  to  result  in  a  freer  movement 
along  the  line,  in  a  somewhat  lighter  grasp  of  the  pen,  and  in  more 
fluency  of  movement.  It  must  be  admitted,  however,  that  the 
evidence  before  us  goes  to  show  that  the  preponderant  emphasis 
which  has  been  placed  on  this  feature  of  writing  is  not  justified. 
We  must  recognize  the  variety  and  flexibility  of  movements  of  the 
hand  and  also  the  fundamental  functions  of  the  finger  movements 
in  forming  the  letters.  If  we  train  the  other  features  of  writing 
which  have  been  indicated  to  be  important,  we  shall  undoubtedly 
obtain  a  certain  degree  of  arm  movement,  as  is  shown  by  the  fact 
that  the  University  Elementary  School  group  exhibited  a  larger 
amount  of  arm  movement  after  training  than  before;  but  we 
should  in  all  probability  regard  the  arm  movement  as  a  legitimate 


STAriSTICAL  COMPARISON  113 

by-product  rather  than  the  reverse.  The  customary  practice  is  to 
center  attention  on  the  arm  movement  and  to  allow  the  other 
desirable  features  to  follow  largely  as  by-products.  The  evidence 
seems  to  point  to  the  conclusion  that  we  should  reverse  this  pro- 
cess, that  is,  aim  primarily  at  the  other  characteristics,  and  attain 
such  amount  of  arm  movement  as  will  come  as  a  by-product  with- 
out special  effort.  For  further  evidence  on  this  matter  see  the 
account  of  the  field  study  presented  in  Chapter  V. 

D.  Ease  of  movement  along  the  line. — This  characteristic  is  one 
which  cannot  be  measured  and  can  be  observed  only  in  a  somewhat 
vague  fashion.  The  figures,  however,  are  given  for  what  they  are 
worth.  They  indicate  very  clearly  that  ease  of  movement  along 
the  line  is  a  factor  in  good  writing.  The  good  writers  in  all  cases 
exhibit  greater  ease  in  carrying  the  hand  across  the  line  than  the 
poor  writers,  and  the  writers  who  have  been  trained  show  decided 
improvement  in  this  respect  after  training. 

Conclusion. — The  ease  with  which  the  hand  moves  along  the  line 
is  an  important  factor  in  the  excellence  of  writing. 

SPEED    CHANGES    IN    THE    WRITING   MOVEMENT 

The  speed  changes  are  not  susceptible  to  the  same  kind  of 
definite  statistical  treatment  as  are  the  varieties  of  hand  position 
or  of  composition  of  the  movement.  Considerable  time  and  effort 
have  been  spent  to  find  a  mode  of  statistical  treatment  that  will 
bring  out  just  the  element  which  is  significant.  This  effort  has  met 
with  but  partial  success,  and  the  results  which  have  been  deemed 
worth  while  will  be  presented  below.  For  the  most  part,  however, 
we  shall  have  to  rely  on  the  type  of  analysis  which  was  made  in  the 
opening  part  of  the  description  of  the  results,  Chapter  III. 

The  comparisons  which  have  proven  fruitful  are  presented  in 
Tables  VI  and  VII.  The  first  of  these  tables  represents  the  amount 
of  time  which  was  spent  in  pauses  within  words  among  the  different 
classes  of  writers.  The  measurements  upon  which  this  table  is 
based  are  entirely  definite  and  reliable.  The  table  is  to  be  read 
as  follows:  The  poorest  writers  in  Grade  VII  B  of  the  University 
Elementary  School  spent  25  per  cent  of  their  writing  time  in 
pauses  at  the  end  of  the  strokes,  and  the  best  writer  spent  27  per 


114 


THE  HANDWRITING  MOVEMENT 


cent  of  his  writing  time  in  the  pauses.     Among  the  children  of 
Grade  VI  A  the  poor  writers  spent  29  per  cent  in  pauses  and  the 

TABLE  VI 
Percentage  of  Time  Spent  by  Children  in  Pauses  at  End  of  Strokes 


Grade 

Poorest 

Best 

Before  Training 

After  Training 

VII  B 

VIA 

VI  B 

VA 

VB 

IV  A 

IV  B 

Ill  A 

IIIB 

II  A 

II  B 

Average 

VIII  A 

IV  A 

25 
29 
28 
16 
32 
13 
40 

37 
49 
53 
53 

27 
52 
32 
30 
38 
36 
56 
39 
59 
58 
60 

Univ.  Elem. 
School .... 

16 

12 

13 

40 

37 
49 
53 
53 

34 
49 
53 
43 
S3 
62 
60 
58 

Ray  School .  . 

34 

40 
32 

44 

41 

42 

37 

52 

Average. .  .-.  . 

36 

42 

TABLE  VII 
Average  Percentage  of  Strokes  Made  with  Rhythm 


Grade 

Poorest 

Best 

Before  Training 

After  Training 

'  VIIB 

VI  A 

VI  B 

VA 

VB 

IV  A 

IV  B 

III  A 

IIIB 

II  A 

II  B 

Average 

^VIIIA 

IV  A 

50 
40 
70 
37 
63 
24 
79 
46 
68 
66 
73 

68 
95 
84 
68 
67 
79 
84 
72 
89 
95 
79 

Univ.  Elem. 
School .... 

37 
63 
24 
79 
46 
68 
66 
73 

64 
81 
68 
81 
76 
68 

89 

Ray  School .  . 

56           1           80 

75            '           96 
71            i           96 

57 

75 

^Average 

73 

96 

best  writer  52  per  cent.     Each  grade  group  follows  the  general 
rule  to  be  observed   in  the  averages;    namely,   that   the  better 


ST  A  TISTICA  L  COM  P.  1 RISON 


115 


writers  spentl  a  larger  amount  of  time  in  the  pauses  than  the  poor 
writers. 

It  is  \ery  clear  from  Table  \T  that  there  is  an  age  difference  in 
the  percentage  of  time  spent  in  the  pauses  at  the  end  of  strokes  as 
well  as  a  diiYerence  between  good  and  poor  writers.  The  children 
in  the  second  and  third  grades,  and  perhaps  in  the  early  fourth  grade, 
spend  a  larger  percentage  of  time  in  the  pauses  than  do  the  older 
children.  This  agrees  with  Meumann's  conclusion  that  the  writing 
of  young  children  is  to  be  described  as  a  series  of  more  or  less 
separate  or  distinct  strokes. 

What  is  the  relation  of  this  fact  to  the  fact  that  good  writers 
pause  longer  between  strokes  than  poor  ones  of  the  same  stage 
of  development  ?  Some  degree  of  separation  of  the  total  writing 
movement  into  strokes  is  evidently  a  means  to  control  of  the 
activity.  In  the  young  child,  whose  control  is  deficient,  that 
separation  is  extreme.  The  tendency  to  separation  may  also  be 
reinforced  by  the  young  child's  imperfect  idea  of  the  form  of  the 
letters  and  their  connections.  As  he  grows  older  his  control 
increases  under  practice,  and  consequently  time  is  economized  by 
reducing  the  pauses.  But  in  the  case  of  the  poor  writer  this 
reduction  takes  place  too  rapidly  for  the  degree  of  control  which  has 
been  developed.  The  good  writer  retains  better  control  by  main- 
taining a  somewhat  greater  separation  between  strokes,  or  by 
retarding  somewhat  the  tendency  to  make  the  movement  more 
continuous  in  speed. 

In  Table  VII  the  matter  has  been  approached  in  a  somewhat 
difTerent  way.  In  this  case  the  results  presented  are  based,  not  on 
definite  measurements,  but  on  a  division  of  the  strokes  into  those 
which  are  rh}lhmical  and  those  which  are  not.  The  judgment  of 
the  experimenters,  therefore,  determined  to  some  extent  the 
entries  of  this  table.  Since  the  results  accord  in  general  with  the 
results  presented  in  Table  VI  and  with  observations  made  through- 
out the  study,  they  are  of  significance.  A  rhythmical  stroke  is 
defined  for  the  purpose  of  this  table  as  one  which  is  made  without 
a  break,  and  which  is  separated  from  the  next  movement  by  a 
pause.  The  writing  movement  which  is  rhythmical  in  this  sense 
consists  in  a  succession  of  strokes  more  or  less  clearly  marked  off 


Ii6  THE  HANDWRITING  MOVEMENT 

from  each  other.  Rhythm,  in  this  sense,  does  not  imply  that 
successive  strokes  are  made  in  the  same  length  of  time.  Table  VII 
is  to  be  read  in  the  same  way  as  the  preceding  one.  It  appears 
from  the  averages  and  also  from  all  but  one  of  the  subgroups  that 
the  better  writers  make  the  larger  percentage  of  their  strokes  in 
rhythm  and  that  the  effect  of  training  of  the  type  which  was  given 
to  the  University  Elementary  School  pupils  is  to  increase  the  per- 
centage of  rhythmical  strokes.  These  statistical  data  support  the 
conclusions  reached  through  an  analysis  of  a  good  writing  co- 
ordination which  was  based  upon  a  study  of  the  speed  curves 
and  presented  in  Chapter  III. 

SUMMARY 

From  the  comparisons  of  the  data  presented  in  this  chapter  the 
following  elements  are  found  to  be  favorable  to  good  writing. 

1.  With  reference  to  hand  position: 

Such  a  degree  of  pronation  that  the  wrist  is  not  tilted  more  than  45°. 

The  support  of  the  hand  on  the  nails  or  sides  of  the  first  joints  of  the 
third  and  fourth  fingers. 

A  position  of  the  forearm  approximately  at  right  angles  to  the  line  of 
writing. 

A  position  of  the  forefinger  on  the  penholder  below  the  thumb. 

2.  With  reference  to  the  composition  of  the  movement: 

The  sideward  movement  of  the  hand  by  rotation  of  the  whole  forearm 
about  the  elbow  supplemented  by  the  rotation  of  the  hand  about  the 
wrist  joint. 

The  formation  of  the  letters  by  a  combined  movement  of  the  fingers 
and  arm  in  which  either  element  may  predominate. 

3.  With  reference  to  the  speed  organization: 

The  separation  of  the  movement  into  units  by  means  of  pauses,  which 
occupy  a  larger  percentage  of  total  writing  time  in  good  than  in  poor 
writers. 


CHAPTER  V 

THE  ANALYSIS  OF  THE  WRITING  MOVEMENT  IN   THE   FIELD 

STUDY 

METHOD   AND   ORGANIZATION 

]Mr.  Nutt's  study,  from  which  certain  results  and  conclusions 
will  be  drawn  for  comparison  with  the  results  of  the  intensive 
laboratory  study,  was  so  designed  as  to  secure  speed  records  from 
a  large  number  of  children  and  also  records  of  the  relative  amount  of 
hand  and  finger  movement.  The  speed  records  were  secured  by 
the  modification  of  an  apparatus  described  by  the  author  in  the 
Yale  Psychological  Studies/  By  means  of  this  apparatus  an 
extended  tracing  of  the  writing  is  taken  on  a  moving  strip  of  paper 
by  means  of  a  typewriter  ribbon  which  travels  between  this  moving 
strip  and  a  sheet  upon  which  the  writing  is  done.  The  speed  of 
the  moving  strip  is  measured  by  means  of  an  electric  vibrator 
which  traces  a  broken  line  on  it.  Thus  the  original  writing  can  be 
compared  with  the  tracing,  and  by  this  means  the  location  of  the 
pen  point  at  successive  intervals  on  the  original  writing  can  be 
indicated,  as  in  the  case  of  a  moving-picture  record.  Mr.  Nutt  con- 
fined his  examination  to  the  study  of  the  time  recjuired  to  make 
the  successive  strokes  of  the  word.  Rhythm  for  him,  therefore, 
simply  means  the  degree  to  which  the  successive  strokes  of  the 
word  approach  uniformity  in  time  or  duration. 

The  relative  amount  of  hand  and  finger  movement  was  meas- 
ured approximately  by  means  of  a  hand  tracer.  This  device  con- 
sists of  a  system  of  levers  in  the  form  of  a  pantograph.  One  end  is 
clamped  to  the  back  of  the  hand  by  means  of  a  band,  and  the  other 
end  carries  a  pen  which  traces  a  movement  identical  with  that  made 
by  the  hand.  If  the  writing  is  done  wholly  by  the  hand  and  arm 
the  tracer  duplicates  the  movement  of  the  pen.  If  the  fingers, 
however,  contribute  a  share  to  the  form  of  the  letters  the  traced 
record  is  less  complete  in  detail  than  the  pen  record. 

'  F.  N.  Freeman,  "Preliminary  Experiments  on  Writing  Reactions,"  Psycho- 
logical Review,  Monograph  Supplements,  VHI  (1907),  301  ff. 

117 


ii8 


THE  HANDWRITING  MOVEMENT 


In  order  to  obtain  a  quantitative  determination  of  the  amount 
of  arm  movement  in  the  formation  of  the  letters  Mr.  Nutt  con- 
structed a  scale.  This  scale  represents  five  degrees  of  arm  move- 
ment, in  addition  to  zero.  The  grade  o  means  that  the  letters  are 
formed  wholly  by  the  movement  of  the  fingers.     No.  i  represents 


X 


9~''^-'V/~r 


i 


H- 


Fig.  44. — Scale  for  recording  the  amount  of  arm  movement  indicated  by  the 
tracer  record. 


a  very  small  amount  of  arm  movement,  which  is  indicated  by  slight 
deviations  in  the  tracer  record.  Nos.  2,3,  and  4  represent  increas- 
ing degrees  of  arm  movement,  and  No.  5  represents  that  degree 
at  which  the  word  is  approximately  duplicated  by  the  tracing  of  the 
hand.     This  scale  is  reproduced  in  Fig.  44. 

The  purpose  of  Mr.  Nutt's  study  was  to  secure  a  large  enough 
number  of  records  to  make  possible  some  statistical  formulation  on 


ANALYSIS  OF  WRITING  MOVEMENT 


IIQ 


a  few  points.  The  children  from  whom  the  records  were  to  be 
obtained  were  selected  in  such  a  way  as  to  make  possible  some  com- 
parison of  the  results  of  different  t>T3es  of  training.  Accordingly 
certain  schools  were  chosen  in  which  the  method  of  teaching  empha- 
sized arm-movement  training,  and  others  in  which  the  copy-book 
was  used  and  movement  drill  was  less  pronounced.  Records 
were  obtained  from  the  five  following  cities:  Kansas  City,  Kansas; 

TABLE  VIII 
Correlation  or  Rhythm  with  Age 


Rhythm 


Age 


4- 
i6o- 


159- 
313- 
467. 
621 . 


929. 


314- 

468- 

622- 

776- 

930-1,083 
1,084-1,237 
1,238-1,391 
1,392-1,545 
1,546-1,698 
1,699-1,853 
1,854-2,007 
2,008-2,161 
2,162-2,315 
2,316-2,469 
2,470-2,663 
2,664-2,777 
2,778-2,931 
2,932-3,085 
3,086-3,240 


14 

5 


5 

2 

5 

4 

8 

3 

3 

I 

4 

4 

3 

6 

2 
6 
I 

3 
4 
4 

I 

4» 


Topeka,  Kansas;  Winfield,  Kansas;  Mattoon,  Illinois;  and 
Grand  Rapids,  Michigan.  At  the  latter  place  a  larger  number  of 
children  were  studied  than  in  any  of  the  others,  amounting  to  about 
150.  In  all  273  children  were  studied.  These  were  chosen  so  as 
to  represent  substantially  equal  numbers  from  the  ages  of  seven 
to  fourteen,  and  from  Grades  II  to  VIII.  The  statistical  com- 
parisons which  have  been  made  from  these  records  deal  with  the 
relationship  of  the  composition  and  rhythm  of  the  writing  move- 
ment to  the  quality  of  the  writing,  to  the  age  of  the  pupil,  and  to  the 
type  of  training  which  the  pupils  received. 


I20  THE  HANDWRITING  MOVEMENT 

THE    CORRELATION    OF    RHYTHM    WITH    AGE,    QUALITY    OF    WRITING, 
AND    SPEED    OF    WRITING 

The  growing  disposition  of  a  writer,  as  he  becomes  more  mature 
and  more  practiced,  to  make  successive  strokes  in  an  equal  length 
of  time  is  well  brought  out  in  one  of  the  tables  from  Mr.  Nutt's 
study.  The  correlation  is  shown  in  Table  VIII.  The  numbers  at 
the  head  of  the  columns  represent  the  age  and  the  numbers  in  the 
left-hand  column  represent  the  index  of  rhythm.  This  index  has 
been  made  by  combining  three  different  measures,  each  of  which 
represents  the  degree  of  uniformity  between  the  duration  of  the 
successive  strokes.  The  first  measure  represents  the  number  of 
strokes  which  are  made  in  the  same  length  of  time,  the  second 
represents  the  number  of  time  groups  which  are  necessary  in  order 
to  include  all  of  the  strokes,  and  the  third  represents  the  range  of 
these  time  groups  or  the  difference  between  the  lowest  and  the 
highest.  If  the  successive  strokes  are  made  in  nearly  equal  lengths 
of  time  the  score  will  be  high;  if  they  vary  greatly  in  duration  the 
score  will  be  low.  If  there  is  an  increase  in  the  degree  of  uni- 
formity of  the  time  in  the  strokes  of  the  writing  we  should  expect 
the  scores  for  the  older  pupils  to  be  farther  toward  the  bottom 
of  the  table  than  those  for  the  younger  ones,  and  this  in  fact  is 
what  appears. 

It  has  already  been  hinted  that  the  development  of  too  great 
uniformity  in  the  duration  of  the  strokes  of  the  word  may  not  be 
advantageous  to  the  form  of  the  writing.  It  is  easily  seen  that 
some  of  the  strokes  require  more  time  than  others  if  they  are  to  be 
properly  made,  and  that  too  great  a  disposition  to  make  the  strokes 
in  the  same  length  of  time  leads  to  a  slurring  over  of  the  details 
of  some  of  the  letters. 

In  order  to  examine  this  relationship,  similar  correlation  tables 
have  been  made  out  for  rhythm  and  quality.  In  this  case  it  was 
necessary  to  make  out  a  separate  table  for  each  age,  since  if  all  the 
ages  were  lumped  together  the  correlation  between  rhythm  and 
age,  and  quality  and  age,  separately,  would  cause  them  to  appear 
to  be  correlated  with  one  another,  even  though  they  were  not 
correlated  in  fact.  We  may  therefore  take  any  age  at  random 
and  show  the  correlation  table  for  that  age.     Tables  IX  and  X  show 


ANALYSIS  OF  WRITING  MOVEMENT 


121 


the  correlation  tables  for  age  eleven,  with  the  quality  worked  out  on 
two  scales.     No  evidence  of  correlation  appears  in  cither  table. 

TABLE  IX 
Correlation  of  Rhythm  with  Quality,  Freeman  Scale 


Age   Eleven:   Quality  Grade 

6-10 

ii-iS 

16-20 

21-25 

26-30 

A—     I  ;o    

I 

1 60-     ^I^ 

I 

314-    467 

468-     621 

I 

I 
I 

2 

776-     Q2Q 

I 

I 

020—1,085; 

2 

1,084.— 1,2?7 

2 

1,238-1,391 

I,'?02— 1,^4^ 

3 
I 

2 

I 

I 

I 

I 
I 

2 

I 

I 

1,546—1,698 

1,630-1,8^^ 

I                    I 

_ _  _  .  .            2 

I 

1,8^4-2,007 

2,008—2,161 '                 T          «.l                T 

TABLE  X 

Correlation  of  Rhythm  with  Quality,  Ayres  Scale 


Rhythm 

Age  Eleven:   Quality  Grade 

20 

30       1        40 

50 

60 

70 

80 

90 

4—     1^0 

I 

1 60—     313 

I 

7. 14.—     467               

468-     621 

I 

I 

2 

622—     771; 

I 

776—     0  20 

I 

I 

Q20— 1,08^ 

I 

I 
I 

1,084— 1,2?7 

I 

1,2^8-1,^01 .           

] 

I,^Q2-I,%4>                   .         .      . 

2 

I 

2 

I 

3 

i 

I 

1, 600-1, 8>^ 

I 
I 
I 

2 

I 

2 

I 

1.8^4—2.007 

I 

I 

I 

We  cannot  determine  the  relationship  between  the  quality  of  writ- 
ing and  the  other  t>qDes  of  speed  organization  from  the  measurement 
of  simple  rhythm  which  is  here  represented.  There  may  be, 
however,  certain  advantages  in  rhythmical  writing,  and  these  may 


122 


THE  HANDWRITING  MOVEMENT 


be  offset  by  disadvantages.  This  is  not  shown  by  the  simple 
measurement  of  the  duration  of  strokes.  We  must  rely  on  the 
more  detailed  type  of  examination  of  the  speed  curves  themselves. 
From  this  we  find  the  characteristics  which  differentiate  the  good 
writer  from  the  poor  one. 

This  matter  recalls  the  other  characteristic  of  mature  writing 
which  has  already  been  mentioned  and  which,  when  it  is  developed 
ahead  of  the  writer's  control,  is  unfavorable  in  its  effect  on  the 
form.  This  characteristic,  it  will  be  remembered,  is  the  continuous- 
ness  of  the  movement.  The  writing  movement  becomes  more  con- 
tinuous— the  transition  from  one  stroke  to  another  is  made  with 
less  interruption — and  the  successive  strokes  are  made  more  nearly 
in  the  same  length  of  time  as  the  writer  becomes  skilled.  But  if 
either  process  develops  too  rapidly  or  too  far  it  is  injurious  to  the 
writing  product. 

TABLE  XI 

Correlation  of  Rhythm  with  Speed 


Age  Eleven:    Speed 

Rhythm 

42- 

43 

40- 
41 

38- 
39 

36- 

37 

34- 
35 

32- 

30- 
31 

28- 
29 

26- 
27 

24- 

25 

22- 
23 

20- 
21 

i8- 
19 

16- 

17 

14- 
15 

12- 
13 

10- 
II 

8- 
9 

4-    159 
i6o—    ^i^ .  . 

I 

I 

314-    467. . 

468-    621 

2 
I 

I 

I 

622-    77i; 

776—    92Q. . 

I 

I 
I 

I 
I 

0'?o-i,o8^ . . 

1,084-1,237 . . 

1,2^8-1,^01 . . 

1,392-1,545.  . 

.  .  . 

5 

2 

I 
2 
I 

I 
I 

1,^46-1,608. 

1,600— 1, 8c? 

I 

3 
2 

1,854-2,007. . 

2,008-2,161. . 

2,162-2,315. . 

The  significance  of  rhythm,  in  the  sense  of  uniformity  in  time 
in  the  successive  strokes,  is  further  indicated  by  the  fact  that  it 
shows  a  correlation  with  speed,  as  revealed  in  Table  XI.  It  is  more 
marked  at  some  other  ages  than  at  age  eleven.  Uniformity  in  time 
is  evidently  a  function  of  speed  more  than  of  form,  and  it  resembles 


ANALYSIS  OF  WRITING  MOVEMENT 


123 


speed  in  that  an  extreme  degree  of  it  is  probablx'  unfavorable  to 
form. 


CORRELATION  OF  ARM  MOVEMENT   WITH  AGE,   QUALITY   OF   WRITING, 
AND    SPEED    OF    WRITING 

Further  statistics  in  regard  to  arm  movement  may  be  taken 
from  Mr.  Nutt's  study.  Table  XII  shows  the  correlation  between 
the  amount  of  arm  movement  and  age.  The  numbers  at  the  head 
of  the  columns  represent  the  grades  in  arm  movement,  according 
to  the  scale  which  has  previously  been  described.     Several  facts 

TABLE  XII 
Correlation  of  Arm  Movement  with  Age 


Age 

Arm-Movement  Grade 

i 
0                        I 

2 

3 

4 

s 

7 

8 

10                          21 

,       10                           19 

2                               JA 

2 

4 
5 
4 
8 
12 

I 

9 

10 

II    

7 
3 
2 

7 
6 

4 

I 
I 

5 

I 

5 
4 

2 

6 

20 

14 
II 

2 
I 

12        

2 

13 

14 

I 
I 

14 
■  6 

10 
10 

I 
3 

appear  in  this  table  which  are  worthy  of  comment.  In  the  first 
place,  the  amount  of  arm  movement  which  obtained  in  any  of  the 
systems,  even  in  the  later  ages,  is  relatively  small.  Arm-movement 
grades  i  and  2  include  the  large  majority  of  even  the  fourteen- 
year-old  pupils,  in  spite  of  the  fact  that  most  of  these  pupils  have 
been  trained  in  the  use  of  the  arm  movement  directly.  The  em- 
ployment of  a  considerable  degree  of  arm  movement,  then,  may  be 
regarded  as  a  highly  skilled  art.  The  same  conclusion  is  to  be 
drawn  from  the  marked  correlation  which  is  exhibited  between 
arm  movement  and  age.  In  ages  seven  and  eight  a  considerable 
proportion  of  the  children  use  no  arm  movement  whatever  and 
practically  none  use  the  higher  degrees.  In  the  advanced  ages, 
from  twelve  to  fourteen,  scarcely  any  write  solely  with  the  fingers 
and  a  fair  number  use  the  higher  degrees  of  arm  movement.     These 


124 


THE  HANDWRITING  MOVEMENT 


facts  do  not  give  any  encouragement  to  the  view  that  the  large  ma- 
jority of  children  can  be  trained  in  exclusive  arm-movement  writing. 
They  indicate,  further,  that  if  we  do  stress  arm  movement  we 
should  do  so  from  the  ages  of  nine  or  ten  on. 

That  exclusive  arm  movement  or  a  considerable  degree  of  arm 
movement  is  not  of  first  importance  is  indicated  by  the  fact  that 
the  pupils  who  make  high  grades  in  quality  do  not  use  a  large 
amount  of  arm  movement  more  commonly  than  do  poor  writers. 
We  may  examine  the  correlation  tables  for  arm  movement  and 
quality  for  age  eleven.     Table  XIII  represents  quality  as  measured 


TABLE  XIII 
Correlation  of  Arm  ^Movement  with  Quality,  Freeman  Scale 


Quality 

Age  Eleven 

0 

I 

2 

3 

4 

5 

6-IO 

2 
2 

4 
3 

I 

3 

2 

II-IS 

16-20 

2 
3 

I 

3 

I 

21-25 

26-^0 

2 

I 

TABLE  XIV 

Correlation  of  Arm  Movement  with  Quality,  Ayres  Scale 


Quality 

Age  Eleven 

0 

1 

2 

3 

4 

5 

20 

3 

2 

I 
I 
I 
2 

I 

I 
I 
2 

I 

30 

3 

I 
I 

I 

40 

50 

60 

2 
2 

I 

70 I 

I 
2 

I 

80 

I 

90 2 

by  the  Freeman  Scale  and  Table  XIV  as  measured  by  the  Ayres 
Scale.  There  is  no  distinct  grouping  of  the  scores  along  the  diagonal 
from  the  upper  left  to  the  lower  right,  which  would  indicate  a  corre- 
lation between  arm  movement  and  quality. 


ANALYSIS  OF  WRITING  MOVEMENT 


12: 


We  do  lind,  however,  some  correlation  between  speed  and  arm 
movement,  though  it  is  not  nearly  so  close  as  is  commonly  main- 
tained by  the  advocates  of  this  method  (see  Table  XV).  All  the 
very  slow  writers  use  finger  movement.  On  the  other  hand,  many 
finger-movement  writers  write  with  as  high  speed  as  any  arm- 
movement  writer.  Arm  movement  appears  to  prevent  slow  move- 
ment but  not  to  promote  unusually  high  speed. 

TABLE  XV 
Correlation  of  Arm  Movement  with  Speed 


Arm 
Movement 

Age  Eleven:   Speed 

44- 
45 

42- 
43 

40- 
41 

38- 
39 

36- 
37 

34- 
35 

32- 
33 

30- 
31 

28- 
29 

26- 
27 

24- 
25 

2  2- 
23 

20- 
21 

18- 
19 

16- 
17 

14- 
15 

12- 

13 

10- 
II 

I 

8- 
9 

0 

.  . 

I 
I 
2 

I 

I 

I 

3 
2 

6 
2 

I 
2 
I 

I 

3 

I 
I 

r 

I 

I 

2 

2 

4 

I 

SUMMARY 

The  aspect  of  speed  organization  which  was  measured  in  this  part 
of  the  investigation  is  the  relative  duration  of  the  successive  strokes  or 
units  of  movement.     This  is  called  rhythm. 

The  duration  of  successive  strokes  becomes  more  uniform  as  the 
child  grows  older  and  is  more  uniform  in  rapid  than  in  slow  writing. 
The  uniformity  is  not  greater,  however,  in  writing  which  is  good  in  form 
than  in  writing  which  is  poor  in  form.  Rhythm  in  this  sense,  then,  is  a 
mark  of  maturity  and  facility  but  not  of  accuracy. 

The  amount  of  arm  movement  as  compared  with  finger  movement 
is  shown  by  the  field  study  to  increase  with  the  age  of  the  child,  but  it  is 
not  more  closely  related  than  is  finger  movement  to  excellence  in  form, 
and  is  but  very  slightly  more  highly  correlated  with  speed.  In  the 
absence  of  correlation  between  arm  movement  and  form  the  field 
study  confirms  the  results  of  the  motion-picture  study. 


CHAPTER  \T 
THE  PEDAGOGICAL  EXPERIMENT 

SUMMARY 

In  the  pedagogical  experiment  a  system  of  exercises  was  devised 
to  put  in  practice  and  test  the  foregoing  principles.  In  these  exercises 
emphasis  was  laid  first  upon  hand  position.  The  child  was  taught  to  hold 
his  hand  so  that  the  wrist  did  not  slant  more  than  45°  from  the  horizontal, 
to  support  his  hand  upon  the  third  and  fourth  fingers,  to  slide  it  easily 
upon  this  support,  and  to  grasp  the  pen  lightly  with  the  fingers  curved 
in  a  natural  manner.  Exercises  were  given  to  develop  free  and  easy 
sideward  movement  of  the  hand  across  the  page.  The  organization  of 
the  movement  into  units  was  encouraged  and  controlled  by  requiring 
the  child  to  write  to  a  count.  The  count  was  so  arranged  as  to  make 
the  division  between  the  units  come  at  appropriate  places  in  the  letters. 
The  speed  of  the  writing  was  gradually  increased  as  the  child  acquired 
practice  and  maturity.  Finally,  the  general  educational  principle  that 
the  child  should  have  clearly  in  mind  the  aim  of  his  practice  was 
appUed  by  directing  the  child's  attention  to  the  analysis  of  the  form  of  his 
own  letters  and  to  their  systematic  correction.  The  detailed  manual  of 
directions  which  was  worked  out  from  these  principles  was  applied  for  a 
period  of  from  two  to  three  months  to  a  small  training  class  and  for  a 
period  of  eight  months  to  an  entire  pubUc  school.  The  training  class 
made  noticeable  improvement,  and  the  public  school  during  the  eight 
months  gained  nearly  four  times  as  much  speed  as  the  average  yearly 
gain  and  between  two  and  three  times  as  much  in  form. 

GENERAL  PLAN 

The  details  of  this  pedagogical  experiment  were  supervised 
by  Miss  Mary  L.  Dougherty,  who  formulated  her  procedure  and 
the  results  of  the  study  in  a  Master's  thesis  which  is  on  file  in  the 
libraries  of  the  University  of  Chicago.  In  the  spring  of  1916  Miss 
Dougherty  conducted  the  training  class  of  poor  writers  of  the 
University  Elementary  School  which  has  been  already  referred  to. 
In  connection  with  this  training  class  she  took  the  general  prin- 

126 


THE  PEDAGOGICAL  EXPERIMENT 


127 


ciples  which  had  been  suggested  by  the  results  of  the  laboratory 
study  and  developed  from  them  the  details  of  procedure.  The 
directions  for  this  procedure  were  later  elaborated  and  put  into  the 
form  of  a  mimeographed  manual.  This  manual  was  used  during 
the  year  19 16-17  ^"^  ^  basis  for  teaching  penmanship  in  the 
Longfellow  School  of  Kansas  City,  Kansas,  under  the  direction  of 
Miss  Grace  Roberts.  The  results  of  that  year's  work  were  meas- 
ured by  means  of  tests  and  compared  with  the  results  in  two  other 
schools  which  used  the  system  in  vogue  throughout  the  city.  For 
the  further  description  of  the  details  of  the  course  and  the  results 
of  the  experiment  liberal  quotations  will  be  made  from  Miss 
Dougherty's  report. 

The  organization  of  the  course  which  is  about  to  be  described 
was  based  on  specific  facts  and  principles  which  were  the  outgrowth 
of  the  present  investigation,  and  on  one  general  principle  which  has 
justified  itself  in  school  experience  and  in  pedagogical  experiments. 
In  the  first  place  the  type  of  hand  position  which  appears  from  the 
comparison  of  the  good  and  poor  writers  to  be  the  best  was  taught 
the  pupils  and  they  were  drilled  in  maintaining  it.  In  the  second 
place  emphasis  was  laid,  by  means  of  exercises  and  directions,  on 
the  lateral  movement  of  the  hand  across  the  page.  In  the  third 
place  the  organization  of  the  movement  with  reference  to  speed 
was  developed  by  means  of  exercises  in  writing  to  a  count.  An 
analysis  was  made  of  each  letter  which  occurred  in  the  exercises 
in  order  to  determine  what  count  would  be  the  best  basis  for  the 
division  of  the  letter  into  units.  The  pupil  was  then  trained  to 
write  to  this  count.  Writing  to  count  is  regarded  as  an  intermediate 
step  in  the  pupil's  development.  The  pupil  first  learns  to  organize 
his  movements  in  this  somewhat  artificial  way,  and  later,  after  he 
has  acquired  a  fair  degree  of  organization,  he  is  allowed  to  modify 
the  time  given  to  the  successive  strokes  to  suit  their  indixidual 
characteristics.  In  the  fourth  place  the  pupil  was  taught  to 
analyze  the  faults  of  his  own  writing  according  to  specific  categories 
in  order  that  his  efforts  might  be  directed  toward  improvement 
in  specific  directions.  To  this  was  added  the  motivation  which 
comes  from  definite  grading  and  the  pupil's  knowledge  of  his 
grades. 


128  THE  HANDWRITING  MOVEMENT 

PRELIMINARY   TRIAL   COURSE 

The  course  was  worked  out  experimentally,  as  has  been  said, 
with  a  group  of  about  thirty  children  ranging  from  the  second  to 
the  sixth  grades,  all  of  whom  had  shown  in  the  tests  of  this  experi- 
ment that  they  had  especial  need  of  training  in  handwriting. 
During  the  first  four  weeks  all  the  children  had  practice  for  a 
twenty-minute  period  five  days  in  the  week.  At  the  end  of  this 
time  a  reorganization  of  the  school  grades  made  a  change  necessary, 
and  the  number  of  periods  in  a  week  ranged  from  two  to  five, 
being  in  every  case  twenty  minutes  long.  The  total  number  of 
periods  ranged  from  forty-five  in  the  second  grade  to  twenty- 
five  in  the  sixth  grade,  the  average  being  thirty-two  periods. 
Throughout  this  part  of  the  work  careful  study  of  individual 
children  was  made  and  the  course  was  formed  to  meet  the  needs 
that  appeared.  The  first  twenty  lessons  were  devoted  entirely  to 
the  eftort  to  establish  the  correct  position  of  the  hand,  pen,  paper, 
and  body,  to  the  acquirement  of  a  forward  swing  in  the  writing, 
and  to  the  development  of  a  rhythm  which  would  lead  to  making 
with  a  single  impulse  each  unit-part  of  a  letter.  By  a  unit-part 
of  a  letter  is  meant  that  part  which  is  allowed  a  single  count, 
as  the  oval  in  a,  d,  g,  or  q,  or  the  upcurve,  turn,  and  downstroke  of 
the  m  or  ;/.  For  illustrations  of  the  count  see  Fig.  45.  It  will  be 
observed  that  in  most  cases  the  count  includes  as  one  unit  an 
upward  and  a  downward  stroke.  This  practice  agrees  with  the 
type  of  organization  of  the  best  adult  writers. 

The  exercises  used  to  develop  lateral  movement  were:  (i)  a 
swing  on  a  wide  arc  both  over  and  under,  accompanied  by  an 
appropriate  rhyme  to  suggest  rhythm  of  movement;  (2)  a  number 
of  exercises  using  the  simplest  one-  and  two-space  letters  connected 
by  a  long  swinging  line  (see  Figs.  45  and  46  for  illustrations). 
These  were  written  to  voice  count,  the  class  being  shown  just  where 
the  count  should  come  in  each  letter. 

During  this  time  nothing  was  said  about  letter  form,  spacing, 
or  alignment.  Slant  was  referred  to  incidentally  in  the  discus- 
sion of  the  forward  movement,  and  quality  of  line  was  brought 
to  the  attention  through  the  insistence  on  looseness  of  grasp. 
The  count  was  usually  given  on  the  upstroke,   as   this    seemed 


THE  PEDAGOGICAL  EXPERIMENT 


129 


^ 


X 


y\ 


\ 


I30 


THE  HANDWRITING  MOVEMENT 


/if/ 
HI 


li 


^ 


<V 


\ 


k^     17; 


\ 


^^  ^ 


^^ 


n      ^      H 


vo 


THE  PEDAGOGICAL  EX  PERI  M  EXT  131 

to  lead  more  definitely  to  the  freedom  of  movement  wanted  than 
the  count  on  the  downstroke,  which,  because  of  its  direction 
toward  the  left  of  the  paper,  tended  to  retard  the  forward  move- 
ment. It  will  be  remembered  that  two  of  the  best  adult  writers 
wrote  the  upward  and  forward  strokes  faster  than  the  downward 
and  backward  strokes. 

At  the  beginning  of  the  fifth  week  the  metronome  was  used  to 
mark  the  time,  and  emphasis  was  placed  on  exactness  of  time  in 
the  writing.  The  separation  between  the  letters  was  somewhat 
lessened  and  the  writing  of  words  began.  The  words  introduced 
combinations  of  letters  already  practiced,  and  each  new  letter  was 
introduced  in  a  free-movement  exercise  before  being  used  in  a  word. 
By  this  means  the  freedom  of  movement  was  fostered  while  letter 
combinations  were  being  learned. 

At  this  time  the  matter  of  position  became  an  individual  instead 
of  a  class  affair.  The  teacher  held  herself  responsible  for  the  posi- 
tion of  every  child,  corrected  wherever  necessary,  and  attempted 
to  keep  the  matter  at  a  level  of  consciousness  until  the  habit  was 
formed  by  commendation  of  good  position.  This  helped  those 
who  needed  correction,  as  was  shown  by  their  evident  effort  to  put 
themselves  in  good  position  when  they  heard  another  commended 
for  it.  A  definite  study  of  individual  needs  led  to  suggestions  as  to 
changes  w^hich  would  make  the  writing  easier.  The  fact  that  there 
was  proper  interest  in  and  incentive  for  work  was  shown  as  reports 
began  to  come  in  of  spontaneous  home  practice  and  of  attempts  to 
maintain  a  good  position  in  writing  in  other  class  subjects. 

Form  was  definitely  attacked  in  the  writing  of  words  by  indi- 
cating the  desirability  of  regarding  the  base  line  and  relative 
heights  of  the  letters.  No  suggestion  of  spacing  had  been  made  up 
to  this  time  except  that  there  should  be  free  movement  with  plenty 
of  room.  While  the  teacher  alw^ays  wrote  the  word  to  count  on  the 
blackboard  there  was  no  attempt  to  furnish  a  copy  in  the  usual 
sense.  The  aim  was  to  have  the  children  see  how  it  was  done  rather 
than  what  the  result  was,  and  the  children  showed  no  tendency  to 
make  a  drawing  copy  of  the  w^ork.  In  the  eighth  week  letter 
formation  was  made  a  point  of  particular  study,  with  analysis  of  the 
letters  wherever  there  was  difficulty. 


132  THE  HANDWRITING  MOVEMENT 

On  the  basis  of  the  belief  that  the  way  to  learn  to  write  is  to 
write,  there  was  little  discussion  and  much  writing.  Exercises 
for  freedom  of  movement  were  continued  as  a  part  of  eVery  lesson. 
In  the  sixth  week  sentence  writing  was  begun. 

When  the  metronome  was  first  used  it  was  set  at  112  beats 
per  minute.  One  unit-part  of  a  letter  was  made  to  each  beat. 
The  number  of  beats  to  a  letter  was  noted  and  words  were  given 
on  the  blackboard  to  count  and  then  written  by  the  children. 
The  metronome  speed  was  increased  from  time  to  time  as  the 
children  were  able  to  maintain  it.  Each  increase  in  speed  was  first 
applied  to  some  review  exercise  and  when  the  class  was  somewhat 
accustomed  to  it  a  higher  speed  was  used  with  new  exercises.  It 
was  found  that  with  every  increase  of  speed  it  was  necessary  to 
give  renewed  emphasis  to  position  and  freedom  of  movement.  In 
the  last  two  weeks  a  special  effort  was  made  to  increase  the  speed 
without  the  loss  of  good  form.  For  a  short  time  during  each  period 
writing  on  easy  exercises  was  done  at  forced  speed.  At  the  end  of 
the  training  period  the  children  of  Grades  II-IV  wrote  with  the 
metronome  at  144  for  regular  work  and  at  152  for  speed  drill.  The 
children  in  Grades  V-VIII  used  152  in  regular  work  and  192  for 
speed  drill. 

Throughout  the  course  the  ideal  of  criticism  was  that  as  far  as 
possible  it  should  be  self-criticism  based  on  comparison  with  one's 
own  work  with  itself  instead  of  with  a  set  copy.  The  children 
were  encouraged  to  find  the  best  of  their  own  work,  and  with  very 
little  suggestion  they  acquired  the  habit  of  discussing  their  work, 
presenting  reasons  why  it  was  good  or  otherwise.  A  systematic 
exhibition  of  work  to  encourage  criticism  was  used.  Papers  were 
exhibited  on  which  were  underscored  one  or  more  particularly 
good  forms  which  had  been  secured,  more  or  less  accidentally. 
These  were  examined  and  discussed  by  the  class  and  the  differ- 
ence was  noted  between  the  parts  underscored  and  the  rest  of  the 
writing.  The  beneficial  effect  of  this  procedure  appeared  in  the 
writing  which  followed. 

Results. — The  writing  of  each  child  was  graded  by  the  Freeman 
chart  at  the  beginning  and  at  the  end  of  the  course.  Table  XVI 
shows  the  gain  or  loss  in  each  category  of  the  chart. 


THE  PEDAGOGICAL  EXPERIMENT 


1.33 


In  comparing  these  figures  for  interpretation  it  is  necessary  to 
temember  that  the  letter  formation  receives  twice  the  number  of 
points  assigned  to  the  other  categories.  On  this  basis  the  order  of 
gain  is:  quahty  of  Hne,  2,i  points;  slant,  31  points;  alignment,  27 
points;   letter  formation,  53  points  (26);   spacing,  21  points. 

TABLE  X\T 
Points  Lost  or  G.a.ined  in  Ten  Weeks'  Practice 


Grade 

Slant 

Alignment 

Quality  of 
Line 

Letter 
Formation 

Spacing              Total 

Gain 

Loss 

Gain 

Loss 

Gain 

Loss 

Gain 

Loss 

Gain 

Loss  !  Gain 

Loss 

IIB 

II  A 

IIIB    .  .  . 

III  A.  .  .  . 

IV  B 

IV  A 

V  B 

VA 

4 
4 
3 
6 

2 
4 

5 
4 

I 
0 
0 
0 
0 
0 
0 
0 

2 

3 
2 

7 

I 

7 
2 

3 

0 
0 

° 
0 

0 

0 

0 

° 

5 
5 
2 

4 
3 
6 

4 
6 

0 
0 
0 
0 
I 
I 
0 
0 

8 

7 
6 

4 
8 
8 

4 
10 

0 
0 
0 
0 
0 
2 
0 
0 

4 
0 
0 
4 
3 
5 
2 

6 

0           23 
0            19 
0           13 
0           25 

0  ,      17 
2           30 

1  1      17 
0           29 

I 
0 
0 
0 

I 

5 

I 
0 

Total 

32 

I 

27 

0 

35 

2 

55 

2 

24 

3        173 

8 

At  the  close  of  the  ten  weeks'  practice  period  the  test  and  the 
photographs  showed  that  some  change  in  the  direction  aimed  at 
had  been  made  in  the  writing  habits  of  the  children.  This  seemed 
to  warrant  the  attempt  to  test  the  course  still  further  as  to  its  suit- 
ability for  the  purpose  for  which  it  was  intended. 

ORGANIZATION  OF  THE  EXPANDED  COURSE 

Because  the  results  of  the  short  course  seemed  to  warrant  it 
this  course  was  expanded  to  one  for  eight  months'  use.  A  manual 
of  directions  was  prepared  which  gives  exact  instructions  in  regard 
to  the  conduct  of  the  course.  Position  of  body,  hand,  arm,  pen, 
and  paper  are  first  considered.  Precision  in  giving  the  order  to 
write  is  emphasized,  as  definiteness  and  regularity  help  in  acquir- 
ing the  habit  of  rhythm.  The  size  of  writing  for  each  grade  is 
prescribed  and  illustrated  by  copies  which  are  introduced  in  the 
text.  In  Grades  I  and  II  blackboard-work  is  emphasized  as  desir- 
able, though  it  seems  unwise  to  prescribe  the  extent  to  which  it 
should  be  used.     As  in  the  short  course,  an  effort  is  made  to  have 


134  THE  HANDWRITING  MOVEMENT 

speed  and  quality  progress  together.     The  following  introduction 
is  suggested  as  a  means  of  motivation. 

(A  short  talk  something  like  this  is  a  good  way  to  begin  the  course.  It 
should  be  suited  to  the  class.) 

We  all  want  to  learn  to  write  well  so  that  when  we  write  letters  or  stories 
our  friends  can  read  them  easily.  We  can  write  well  and  make  hard  work  of  it 
or  we  can  write  easily  and  well.  I  am  going  to  show  you  how  to  write  so  that 
it  will  be  easy  to  write,  and  then  you  will  be  glad  to  do  it.  First,  we  must 
sit  right.  Sit  straight,  hips  back  in  the  seat,  feet  on  the  floor.  (See  that  all 
are  doing  so.)  Put  the  paper  in  place  at  an  angle  of  30°  to  the  desk  line. 
(This  will  have  to  be  repeatedly  illustrated  for  the  beginnners.)  Put  both 
arms  on  the  desk  and  let  them  rest  there  easily.  Make  "runners"  of  your 
third  and  fourth  fingers.  Let  them  carry  your  whole  hand,  sliding  back  and 
forth  on  the  paper.  (No  pencil  in  hand.)  Go  clear  across  the  paper.  Do  it 
as  I  count — i,  2;  1,2;  1,2;  i,  2.  x\gain,  i,  2;  etc.  Can  you  keep  with  my 
count  ?  Are  you  sliding  on  your  "runners "  ?  Is  your  wrist  raised  just  a  little 
so  as  to  form  a  bridge  ?  Now  again,  1,2;  etc.,  four  times.  Take  pencil,  hold 
it  so.  (Show  correct  position.  Be  sure  that  the  index  fing-er  is  on  top  of 
pencil,  not  on  left  side,  and  that  the  thumb  is  higher  on  pencil — farther  from 
the  point — than  the  index  finger.  See  that  every  child's  position  is  correct 
this  time  and  every  time.  Place  each  pencil  in  a  correct  position  if  necessary. 
It  wiU  take  less  time  after  a  while  and  less  on  the  whole  if  correct  position  is 
insisted  on  the  first  time  and  every  time.  Above  all  things  do  not  get  impa- 
tient with  the  child  who  does  not  get  the  position  right.     They  all  want  to.) 

Now  can  you  use  your  runners  with  the  pencil?  Try  as  I  count.  Clear 
across  the  paper,  but  do  not  write  yet.     Ready.     Slide.     1,2;  etc. 

Because  of  the  experience  in  the  experimental  group  the  teachers 
were  especially  warned  against  discouragement  over  some  evidence 
of  disorganization  of  the  writing  due  to  focusing  the  attention  for  a 
time  on  the  position,  freedom  of  movement,  and  time  instead  of 
form.  Definite  directions  as  to  the  conduct  of  each  lesson  continued 
through  the  first  month,  to  a  large  extent  through  the  third  month, 
and  whenever  there  was  difficulty  or  especial  emphasis  was  needed, 
throughout  the  course.  The  following  lessons  quoted  from  the 
course  indicate  how  definite  the  instructions  were. 

Lesson  2 

Sit  straight,  hips  back,  feet  on  the  floor.  Arms  on  desk.  Can  you  place 
your  paper  right  ?  Good.  (Do  not  neglect  commendation  when  possible  to 
give  it.)     Without  pencils  use  your  runners — clear  across  the  paper.     Ready. 


THE  PEDAGOGICAL  EXPERIMENT  135 

Slide.  1,2;  etc.,  four  times.  Now  pencils.  Is  your  position  like  this?  (Be 
sure  that  it  is.)  Now  slide,  but  don't  write.  Ready.  Slide,  i,  2;  etc. 
Look.     (On  board  write  Exercise  i  [see  Fig.  46],  saying  verse: 

To  and  fro  sway  the  trees. 
Bending  in  the  passing  breeze.) 

You  may  write.  Ready.  Write.  "To  and  fro,"  etc.  Did  you  keep  time? 
Once  more.  "To  and  fro,"  etc.  Now  we  have  made  the  tree  lops.  Do  you 
like  to  swing  clear  up  to  the  tree  tops  among  the  leaves  ?  Look.  I  am  going 
to  swing  way  up.     (See  Exercise  2,  Fig.  46.)     (While  making  the  curve  say: 

How  do  you  like  to  go  up  in  a  swing, 
Up  in  the  air  so  blue  ?) 

]\Iake  the  tree  tops  again.  Are  your  runners  ready?  Is  your  pencil  right? 
Are  you  holding  it  loosely  ?  (Test  a  few  by  pulling  it  out  from  the  fingers.) 
Ready.  Write.  "To  and  fro,"  etc.  Let's  swing  up  to  the  tree  tops.  "How 
do  you  like  to  go  up  in  a  swing,"  etc.  Now  we  will  slide  another  way.  I  will 
show  you.  (See  Exercise  3,  Fig.  46.)  Make  long  slides  so  that  you  can  put 
only  three  on  a  Hne.  Try  again.  See  how  I  count.  (Put  it  on  the  board 
with  a  count.) 

Lesson  5 

Take  a  clean  sheet  of  paper.  We  have  been  practicing  all  the  week. 
Today  we  are  going  to  make  all  our  exercises.  Remember  that  the  most 
important  thing  is  the  way  we  do  it.  Paper  right,  feet  right,  up  straight,  hand 
on  runners,  pencil  loose.  Without  writing,  slide  on  your  runners  clear  across 
the  paper.  Ready.  Slide.  1,2;  1,5*;  etc.  Now  hold  your  pencil  right  and 
put  your  name  and  grade  and  the  date  on  the  top  line.  Now,  everybody 
ready.  Watch.  (Put  on  the  board  Exercises  i  and  2,  saying  rhyme.)  You 
may  do  this.  Be  sure  you  swing  clear  across  the  page.  Don't  let  your  tree 
tops  come  too  low.  Ready.  Write.  "How  do  you  like,"  etc.  Make  this 
exercise  twice.  (Then  put  on  the  board  Exercise  3  and  have  them  do  it  to 
count,  and  have  them  do  the  same  with  Exercises  4,  5,  and  6,  Fig.  46.) 

The  chief  aim  in  organizing  the  course,  aside  from  attention  to 
position,  is  the  organization  with  regard  to  the  time  element.  For 
this  it  is  necessary  to  analyze  each  letter  as  to  the  count  best  suited 
to  it,  and  in  words  the  count  must  be  adapted  to  take  account  of 
desirable  ways  of  connecting  letters.  (See  Fig.  45  for  illustration.) 
Often  it  was  found  that  the  count  assigned  to  a  letter  influenced  the 
form  of  the  letter.  The  easier  small  letters  are  introduced  first 
and  those  requiring  the  same  type  of  movement  are  grouped 
together.     The    easier   capitals    are   introduced   before   the   more 


136  THE  HANDWRITING  MOVEMENT 

difficult  small  letters,  and  sentences  and  proper  names  are  given 
as  an  incentive  to  learning  how  to  write  the  capitals. 

The  emphasis  is  on  different  factors  at  different  stages  of  the 
work.  In  the  beginning  the  attention  is  focused  on  position  and 
freedom  of  movement  in  a  rhythmic  manner.  The  attention  is 
turned  somewhat  gradually  to  form.  For  example,  such  points 
as  the  top  of  the  small  a  and  the  proper  place  of  crossing  and  closing 
the/  are  noticed  when  the  letter  is  introduced,  and  the  emphasis  is 
laid  on  these  points  in  the  writing  which  follows.  In  the  fifth 
month  letter  formation  is  emphasized.  In  this  connection  an 
analysis  of  letters  is  made  as  to  the  points  of  difficulty.  In  connec- 
tion with  this  study  especial  emphasis  begins  to  be  placed  on  the 
self-criticism  which  has  been  encouraged  from  the  first.  To  make 
this  self-criticism  more  definite  and  more  intelligent,  in  the  sixth 
month  the  Chart  for  the  Diagnosis  of  Faults  in  Handwriting'  is 
given  to  the  teachers  with  careful  instructions  as  to  their  own  and 
the  pupils'  use  of  the  chart.  This  directed  criticism  proved  valu- 
able in  the  improvement  of  form,  as  was  shown  in  the  change 
between  the  third  and  fourth  tests,  which  came  before  and  after  it 
had  been  inaugurated.  During  the  seventh  and  eighth  months  the 
use  of  the  metronome  is  gradually  eliminated  except  in  speed  drills. 
This  is  for  the  purpose  of  establishing  a  habit  of  rhythm  in  writing 
apart  from  an  external  stimulus.  An  effort  is  also  made  to  increase 
the  speed  of  writing  without  loss  in  form.  The  device  for  this  is  a 
speed  game,  in  which  for  a  short  time  during  a  writing  period  the 
class  writes  a  familiar  exercise  at  a  speed  beyond  that  used  in  the 
regular  writing.  This  speed  is  increased  from  time  to  time  accord- 
ing to  the  judgment  of  the  teacher. 

In  this  course  nothing  at  all  is  said  about  the  type  of  movement 
in  itself.  The  emphasis  is  on  freedom  and  ease  in  the  writing.  No 
peculiar  formation  of  the  letters  is  required.  They  are  to  be  dis- 
tinctive enough  in  form  to  make  them  easily  recognized,  but  there 
is  allowance  for  individuality  in  the  work  of  the  pupils. 

The  schools  which  co-operated  in  the  experiment  were  the  Long- 
fellow, the  Bryant,  and  the  Quindaro  schools  of  Kansas  City, 
Kansas.     The  following  numbers  of  pupils  were  present  at  the  first 

'  Devised  by  F.  N.  Freeman  and  published  by  Houghton  Mifflin  Co. 


THE  PEDAGOGICAL  EXPERIMENT  137 

and  last  tests  and  are  included  in  the  tables:  Longfellow,  149; 
Bryant,  194;  Quindaro,  157.  The  Longfellow  School  used  the 
course,  which  was  sent  to  them  in  detail,  and  faithfully  followed 
the  suggestions  given.  The  other  schools  were  asked  to  send  in 
test  papers  at  the  time  that  the  Longfellow  School  did,  but  not  to 
use,  consciously,  any  of  the  methods  prescribed  for  that  school. 
The  co-operation  of  these  schools  was  as  important  a  part  of  the 
experiment  as  that  of  the  Longfellow  School,  since  the  validity  of  the 
entire  work  might  well  be  questioned  if  no  check  group  were  used 
and  reported  as  a  part  of  the  experiment.  In  the  report  the  Long- 
fellow School  will  be  designated  as  the  training  school  and  the 
Bryant  and  Quindaro  schools  as  the  check  schools. 

From  the  training  school  and  the  two  check  schools  concerned 
a  test  was  given  at  the  close  of  the  first  week  of  school  in  Septem- 
ber. One  week  was  allowed  to  give  opportunity  for  learning  the 
material  to  be  used  and  for  a  return  to  the  habits  of  work  after 
the  vacation.  The  directions  for  this  test  and  the  others  given 
during  the  year  were  those  published  in  an  article  entitled  "Hand- 
writing Tests  for  Use  in  School  Surveys,"'  a  reprint  of  which  was 
sent  to  each  teacher.  Other  tests  were  given  in  all  the  schools  on 
December  15,  February  23,  and  May  15.  After  grading  the  work 
of  the  first  three  tests,  suggestions  were  sent  out  to  the  training 
school  as  to  points  which  needed  attention,  and  special  advice 
and  a  rough  report  of  the  standing  of  the  different  grades  were 
given. 

The  check  schools  received  no  communication  during  the  year 
except  the  requests  for  tests  at  the  proper  times.  The  method  used 
in  the  check  schools  was  a  somewhat  loose  following  of  a  modified 
Palmer  System.  There  was  no  systematic  supervision  of  the  work, 
so  it  is  probable  that  the  work  was  somewhat  individual  in  char- 
acter in  the  different  classes. 

In  the  training  school  the  explicit  directions  and  letters  of  advice 
took  the  place  to  a  large  extent  of  the  direct  supervision,  but  the 
building  was  visited  in  February  and  in  March  by  the  authors  of  the 
course.  At  these  two  visits  the  work  was  inspected,  questions 
answered,  and  advice  given. 

'  Elementary  School  Journal,  XVI  (1916),  299. 


138  THE  HANDWRITING  MOVEMENT 

RESULTS    OF    THE   EXPANDED    COURSE 

In  the  following  tables  and  charts  the  results  of  the  experi- 
ment are  presented.  Further  details  of  the  results  with  discussion 
may  be  found  in  Miss  Dougherty's  longer  report.  The  progress 
in  speed  and  quality  which  was  made  in  the  three  schools  is  repre- 
sented in  Table  XVII.  The  scores  in  quality  which  are  used  in 
this  table  were  obtained  by  the  use  of  the  Freeman  Chart  for  the 
Diagnosis  of  Faults  in  Handwriting.  The  grading  was  all  done  by 
one  person,  who  had  been  trained  carefully  in  the  use  of  the  scale. 
In  addition  to  the  grading  the  papers  were  directly  compared,  and 
if  any  marked  discrepancies  were  found  the  grading  was  altered 
before  the  results  were  tabulated.  The  process  was  uniform  in  the 
three  schools.  The  scores  which  are  given  as  the  standards  were 
obtained  by  using  the  results  of  a  study  of  fifty-six  cities. 

From  the  averages  at  the  bottom  of  the  table  it  appears  that  the 
training  school  made  marked  gain  in  both  speed  and  form,  while 
the  two  check  schools  gained  chiefly  in  speed.  The  training  school 
made  approximately  four  times  the  standard  gain  in  speed  and 
between  two  and  three  times  the  standard  gain  in  form.  The 
check  schools  made  approximately  three  times  the  standard  gain 
in  speed  but  only  a  little  over  one-quarter  the  standard  gain  in 
form. 

The  results  which  are  presented  in  Table  XVII  may  be  inspected 
more  conveniently  in  the  charts  in  Figs.  47  and  48.  The  lines  in 
Fig.  47  represent  the  progress  in  the  form  of  the  writing  made  by  in- 
dividual grades  from  the  first  to  the  last  test  in  the  three  schools. 
The  lines  in  Fig.  48  represent  the  progress  in  speed  from  the  first 
to  the  last  test. 

It  is  evident  from  Fig.  47  that  every  grade  in  the  training 
school  surpassed  the  corresponding  grades  of  the  other  two  schools 
in  form,  both  in  the  amount  of  progress  from  the  first  to  the  last 
test  and  in  the  excellence  of  the  final  attainment  at  the  end  of  the 
year.  In  most  cases  the  superiority  of  the  training  school  is  very 
large.  Fig.  48  shows  that  the  training  school  made  greater  progress 
in  speed  than  did  the  other  schools.  In  some  grades  the  progress 
of  the  training  school  was  greater  than  the  progress  of  other  schools, 
and  in  other  grades  less. 


THE  PEDAGOGICAL  EXPERIMENT 


139 


TABLE  XVII 

COMP.VRISOX  OF  AVER.\GE   PROGRESS   OF   THE   Tr.\INING   ScHOOL   AND   THE   TwO   ChECK 

Schools 


Gr.^de  .^nd  School 

Test  i 

Test  2 

Test  3 

Test  4 

1  EST  1  TO  Test  4 

Speed 

Form 

Speed 

Form 

Speed 

Form 

Speed 

Form 

Speed 

Form 

Grade  II: 

Standard 

30.6 
46.1 
47.8 
36.5 

43-8 
55.8 
65.1 
52.5 

51-2 

74-5 
83.2 
90-5 

59  I 
84.9 
70.3 
65-3 

62.8 

102.6 

84.6 

713 

67.9 
77-8 
93-2 
88.0 

730 

83.2 

123.7 

86.5 

II .  I 
15-6 
13 -7 
II. 6 

12.5 
17. 1 
13.0 
"•5 

14-5 
18. 1 
14.0 
10.9 

iS-9 
17-4 
135 
133 

18.0 
19.8 

157 
16.6 

19.8 
23.0 
13-8 
154 

20.9 
19. 

13-7 
16. 1 

Longfellow  average .  . 

Bryant  average 

Quindaro  average. .  .  . 
Grade  III: 

Standard 

16.8 
16.9 
16.6 

11. 6 

11. 7 
9-4 

31-8 
28.0 
35-4 

13-4 

36-3 

9-4 

38.6 

36.3 
28.9 

13    I 
13.2 

293 
30-9 
19.9 

4.0 
2.0 

2.2 

Longfellow  average .  . 

Bryant  average 

Quindaro  average. .  .  . 
Grade  IV: 

Standard 

30.0 

35-4 
34  0 

13-7 
14.2 

12.5 

50-3 
49.2 
52.2 

12.5 

12.5 

9.2 

47.6 
55-5 
49-9 

14. 1 
II. 8 
10.5 

25.8 
29.7 
18.5 

3-4 

1  .2 

— I.O 

Longfellow  average . . 

Bryant  average 

Quindaro  average. .  .  . 
Grade  V: 

Standard 

46.4 
52.8 
52.1 

14.9 

14-7 
II. 6 

71.9 
66.6 
76.2 

12.9 
14.8 
12.9 

76.8 
75.6 
84.3 

15-5 
134 
II. 0 

28.1 
30-4 
38.4 

3-2 

—0.7 

Longfellow  average . . 

Bryant  average 

Quindaro  average. .  .  . 
Grade  VI: 

Standard 

56.5 
43-6 
47-9 

139 
13 -7 
12.4 

77-5 
63 -7 
73-7 

14-5 
14-5 
10.9 

67.8 
76.8 
64.8 

16.3 
12.9 
13.6 

28.4 
26.7 
174 

3-5 
0.9 

Longfellow  average.  . 

Bryant  average 

Quindaro  average. .  .  . 
Grade  VII: 

Standard 

54  0 
73-5 
83.4 

17.2 
14.2 
14.4 

68.0 

715 
64.8 

19.0 
153 
139 

62.8 

75-3 
68.4 

19.6 
16. 1 
14-7 

48.6 

II.  I 

— 12. 1 

2.6 

1-5 

2.2 

Longfellow  average .  . 

Bryant  average 

Quindaro  average. .  .  . 
Grade  VIII: 

Standard   

62.5 
80.9 
81.6 

15-3 
"•5 
16.4 

62.1 
79   I 
83.1 

19.0 
14.6 
134 

65.5 
129.2 

84.7 

20.8 
14.4 
14. 1 

15-3 
12.3 

6.4 

7-7 

2-3 

— 1.0 

Longfellow  average .  . 

Bryant  average 

Quindaro  average. .  .  . 

62.6 
79-9 

73-4 

13-9 
14.2 

159 

73-1 
96.2 

82. 5 

16.3 
157 
14.9 

73-5 

124.0 

89.0 

18.6 
iS-3 
14-3 

20.6 
43-8 
13   I 

6.0 
0.  2 

Average  gain: 

Standard 

7-1 
28.0 
20.5 

1.6 

Training  school 

4-34 

Two  check  schools . . . 

0-43 

I40 


THE  HANDWRITING  MOVEMENT 


The  progress  in  form  and  in  speed  from  one  grade  to  another 
and  the  change  which  took  place  from  the  first  to  the  fourth  test 
are  represented  in  Fig.  49.  The  upper  figures  represent  form  and 
the  lower  ones  speed.  The  left-hand  figures  represent  the  condition 
at  the  first  test  and  the  right-hand  figures  the  condition  at  the  last 
test. 

Consider,  first,  the  form  curves.  In  the  first  test  the  form  or 
quality  in  the  training  school  is,  on  the  average,  not  greatly  differ- 


GllAUE    III 


Grade  IV 


GUADK    \I1I 


3  +     1 

Tiaiiiing  school 


Clieck  schools 


Fig.  47. — Comparison  of  the  progress  in  form  of  writing  in  the  training  school 
and  the  two  check  schools  from  the  first  to  the  last  test. 


ent  from  that  of  the  two  check  schools.  All  three  schools  are  below 
the  standard  from  the  fifth  grade  upward.  In  the  fourth  test  the 
check  schools  have  remained  in  about  the  same  relative  position 
to  the  standard  while  the  training  school  has  progressed  so  far  as  to 
be  entirely  above  it,  except  in  the  eighth  grade. 

In  speed  the  two  check  schools  were  above  the  standard  in 
most  of  the  grades  at  the  beginning  of  the  year,  while  the  training 
school  was  somewhat  below.     In  the  fourth  test  all  of  the  schools, 


THE  PEDAGOGICAL  EXPERIMENT 


141 


including  the  training  school,  were  above  the  standard  in  every 
grade,  and  the  average  attainment  in  all  of  the  schools  was  sub- 
stantially the  same.  It  is  apparent  that  the  check  schools  have 
made  great  progress  in  speed  but  very  slight  progress  in  form.  The 
training  school,  on  the  other  hand,  has  made  great  progress  in 
both  form  and  speed. 


CkaDK     III  ClIAlll      IV 


CRsnr   V 


Te.t 

1             i            -i             « 

I              •-'              -i             4 

1           •-'           3           + 

lis* 

Scor.- 

10.-. 

^ 

/' 

7J 

\----/- 

.r.-h--^ 

0^'~^ 

(i.3 

^^ 

5.) 

y^^^^'^-j 

"-^"'^ 

3.-, 

1.-. 

Clt.MIl      VI 

<;RAnK   VII 

GUADK    VIII 

3  +     1 

Triiiiiiriy  ^cllool  - 


Check  schools    .. . 


Fig.  48. — Comparison  of  the  progress  in  speed  of  writing  in  the  training  school 
and  the  two  check  schools  from  the  first  to  the  last  test. 

In  addition  to  comparing  the  same  grade  in  different  schools,  we 
may  compare  each  grade  within  a  school  with  the  next  grade  above 
it.  The  difference  between  two  successive  grades  at  the  beginning 
of  the  year  may  be  taken  as  a  measure  of  the  amount  of  progress 
which  we  may  expect  a  grade  to  make  during  a  year.  For  example, 
the  fourth  grade  should  have  approximately  the  standing  in  the 
last  test  of  the  year  which  the  fifth  grade  had  in  the  first  test.  If 
we  compare  the  standing  of  any  particular  grade  in  the  last  test 


142 


THE  HANDWRITING  MOVEMENT 


with  the  standing  of  the  next  grade  above  it  in  the  first  test,  we 
have  a  means  of  determining  whether  or  not  the  lower  grade  has 
made  the  equivalent  of  a  year's  progress.  Such  a  comparison  is 
made  for  the  three  schools  in  Fig.  50.  This  figure  is  to  be 
interpreted  as  follows:  In  the  upper  set  of  figures  is  shown  the 
standing  of  the  grades  of  the  Longfellow  School,  and  in  the  two 


First  Test 

20 

15 

^^^^ 

10 

Grade  II         III        IV         V         VI       VII      VIII  U         Ul        IV        V         VI       VII      VIII 

Speed 


First  Test 


Grnde  II         III        IV        V         VI       VII      VIII  II         III        iv         V         VI        VII      Vlfj 

Training  school Check  sclioolsr.—.T.rr.  Slandard -~~-~~. 

Fig.  49.— Progress  through  the  grades  in  the  training  school  and  the  two  check 
schools  in  comparison  with  the  standard. 

lower  sets  of  figures  the  standing  in  the  other  two  schools.  The 
pairs  of  columns  on  the  left  present  comparisons  of  the  form  in  the 
third  grade  at  the  beginning  of  the  year  with  that  of  the  second 
grade  at  the  end  of  the  year,  designated  by  3  and  2,  respectively. 
In  the  next  pairs  of  columns  is  shown  the  same  comparison  for 
speed.  If  the  column  which  represents  the  lower  grade  is  higher 
than  that  which  represents  the  next  grade  above  it,  there  is  an 
indication  that  the  lower  grade  has  made  more  progress  than  we 


THE  PEDAGOGICAL  EXPERIMENT 


143 


should  expect  during  the  year.     If  the  contrary  is  true,  the  lower 
grade  has  made  less  than  the  expected  progress. 


Test    1    IV 


Test    I    IV 


Test    I    IV 


!    IV 


I     IV 


Check 

School 

65 

r-| 

55                                                                 55 

15 



45 

15 

+5 

10 

35 

III 

35 

5 

3 

2 

25 

3 

■2 

■> 

4 

3 

•..5 

+ 

3 

0 

15 

0 

15 

1     I\  I     IV 

check  ScJiool 


5                              45 

15 

45 

15 

(1 

— 

—^ 

35 

10 

35 

10 

-n 

5 

•25 

.-, 

•.'5 

5 

8 

2 

3 

2 

4 

3 

4 

3 

5 

4 

0 

15 

1) 

15 

0 

5     S|)ci(l 


Truiiiinf;  School 

1 , 

Form 

Speed 

ronii                      Speed 

Form 

05 

20 

55 

20                           5j 

■20 

55 

1 

, , 

15 

— 

45 

15 

1 — 

45 

15 

\:> 

10 

35 

10 

35 

10 

.i". 

5 

25 

,-, 

■25 

, 

25 

3 

2 

3 

2 

4 

3 

4 

3 

5 

4 

5 

4 

0 

15 

0 

15 

0 

15 

■| 

n 

75 

65 

t5 

35 
15 

5 

4 

Fig.  50. — Comparison  of  consecutive  grades.     The  standing  of  each  grade  in 
Test  IV  compared  with  the  standing  of  the  next  grade  above  it  in  Test  I. 


This  comparison  indicates  that  every  grade  in  the  training 
school  has  made  more  than  the  expected  progress  both  in  form 
and  speed,  and  in  most  of  the  cases  the  excess  is  considerable.     In 


144 


THE  HANDWRITING  MOVEMENT 


the  two  check  schools  only  two  grades  have  made  more  than  the 
expected  progress  in  both  form  and  speed.     One  has  exceeded  the 


Form 


1 1 

15 

10 

5 

6 

S 

0 

Test    I    IV 


Speed 


I    IV 


Training  School 


Form 


I    IV 


Speed 


I     IV 


Form 


1 1 

20 

15 

10 

5 

8 

7 

0 

I    IV 


Speed 


Check  School 


65 
55 

6 

5 

45 

6 

5 

Test    I    IV 


I    IV 


I — I  "'^ 

C5 

56 
7     6  7     6 

45 


I    IV  I    IV 

Check  School 


— 

85 

15 

75 

10 

65 
55 

8 

7 

8 

7 

0 

*5 

1    IV 


I     IV 


85 

15 

75 

10 

65 

— 1 

5 

55 

6 

5 

6 

5 

0 

45 

Test    I    IV 


I    IV 


15 

— 

75 

10 

65 

5 

55 

7 

6 

7 

6 

0 

45 

I    IV  I     IV 

Fig.  50 — Conlinued 


85 

15 

-1 

75 

10 

65 
55 

H 

7 

8 

7 

0 

45 

I     IV 


1  n 


expected  progress  in  form  alone  and  seven  in  speed  alone.  The 
remaining  two  have  made  less  than  the  expected  progress  in  both 
form   and   speed.     The   training   school   makes   a   very  excellent 


THE  PEDAGOGICAL  EXPERIMENT 


145 


showing  on  the  basis  of  this  internal  comparison,  indicating  that 
unusual  progress  was  made  during  the  year,  while  the  progress  in 
the  check  schools  was  about  the  same  as  usual. 

These  statistical  results  may  be  supplemented  by  the  presenta- 
tion of  a  few  individual  cases  in  concrete  form.  In  order  that  the 
selection  of  these  cases  might  not  seem  to  show  bias  and  favor  the 
results  of  the  work,  they  were  chosen  on  the  basis  of  their  recorded 
scores  rather  than  from  an  examination  of  the  specimens  themselves. 
The  scores  of  all  the  papers  were  inspected  in  order  to  discover 
cases  in  which  the  same  amount  of  progress  was  made  from  the 
first  to  the  last  test  as  was  made  on  the  average  in  their  respective 
grades.  Thus  the  progress  which  is  shown  in  these  papers  repre- 
sents very  closely  the  average  progress  which  has  been  made  by  the 
grade  as  a  whole.  The  specimens  are  reproduced  in  Fig.  51.  In 
each  case  the  specimen  includes  all  that  the  child  wrote  in  two 
minutes,  so  that  the  speed  of  writing  may  be  judged  as  well  as 
the  form. 

The  two  specimens  of  handwriting  by  a  second-grade  child 
must  be  judged  in  connection  with  the  fact  that  the  writing  at 
the  end  of  the  year  is  considerably  smaller,  which  makes  it  more 
difficult,  and  that  the  child  wrote  between  five  and  six  times  as 
much  within  the  same  period  at  the  end  as  at  the  beginning.  The 
third-grade  child  wrote  with  pencil  at  the  beginning  of  the  year  and 
with  pen  at  the  end,  and  in  addition  wrote  two  and  a  half  times  as 
much  in  the  last  test  as  in  the  first  test.  The  last  test  shows  a 
very  encouraging  fluency  and  a  very  fair  amount  of  control  for  a 
third-grade  child.  The  fourth-grade  child  shows  very  good  gain 
in  speed,  in  the  form  of  the  letters,  and  in  the  fluency  of  the  move- 
ment. The  fifth-grade  child  has  gained  very  largely  in  form  and 
shows  a  decided  gain  in  the  control  and  smoothness  of  the  movement. 
The  sixth-grade  child  has  more  than  doubled  her  speed  and  has 
gained  in  smoothness  and  regularity  of  writing.  The  writing  at  the 
end  of  the  year  is  somewhat  too  crowded  and  the  slant  is  extreme; 
if  but  these  faults  were  corrected  it  would  be  very  good  indeed. 
There  is  a  little  excess  movement  shown  in  the  case  of  the  seventh- 
grade  pupil,  but  this  is  a  fault  which  can  be  overcome  and  is 
much    less   serious    than    the    cramped    movement    with    which 


146 


THE  HANDWRITING  MOVEMENT 


u 


THE  PEDAGOGICAL  EXPERIMENT 


149 


1^ 


I50 


THE  HANDWRITING  MOVEMENT 


A 

y 


THE  PEDAGOGICAL  EXPERIMENT  iqi 


> 

p 
< 

Pi 
o 


u 


o 


fc4 


> 

p 
<: 
Pi 
o 


> 

w 

Q 
< 
Pi 
O 


p 
o 


k2     ^ 


158  THE  HANDWRITING  MOVEMENT 

the  first  specimen  was  evidently  written.  The  speed  is  about 
doubled.  A  gain  in  control  is  also  shown  by  the  eighth-grade 
pupil. 

These  favorable  statistical  results  are  confirmed  by  the  interest 
and  approval  of  the  teachers  and  the  principal  of  the  school  where 
the  course  was  given  trial.  The  experimental  work  of  the  labora- 
tory has  evidently  discovered  a  principle  which  is  not  only  scien- 
tifically true,  but  which  can  be  made  to  work  in  practice  to  the 
advantage  of  the  teaching  of  penmanship. 


CHAPTER  VII 
PRACriCAL  RECOMMENDATIONS 

We  are.  primarily  concerned  in  this  stud)-  of  the  efficiency  of 
penmanship  with  handwriting  as  a  movement.  This  j^reoccupa- 
tion  with  the  movement  phase  assumes  that  the  (HfTiculty  which 
confronts  the  child  in  learning  to  write  well  is  concerned  more  with 
the  movement  than  with  the  perception  of  the  letters.  This  is  not 
to  be  taken  to  mean  that  defects  in  writing  are  never  due  to  faulty 
perception.  The  penmanship  course  which  has  been  outlined 
in  the  preceding  chapter  includes  a  systematic  examination  of  the 
form  of  the  writing  by  the  child  made  according  to  specific  cate- 
gories. It  seems  necessary  to  direct  the  child's  attention  in  a 
systematic  way  to  the  analysis  of  the  form  of  the  letters.  What 
this  assumption  does  mean,  on  the  other  hand,  is  that  characteris- 
tically poor  writers  meet  their  chief  difficulty,  not  in  form  recog- 
nition or  perception,  but  in  the  control  of  the  movement.  It  is 
seldom  that  a  child  with  some  attention  directed  to  form  cannot 
be  led  to  see  his  errors.  It  is  a  very  difficult  matter  for  some 
children  to  correct  the  defects  which  they  are  able  to  recognize. 

We  may,  f6r  convenience,  distinguish  between  that  part  of  the 
writing  movement  which  has  to  do  with  letter  formation  and  with 
the  movement  from  one  letter  to  another,  which  includes  the  main- 
tenance of  a  proper  relationship  between  the  successive  letters  in 
size,  slant,  and  spacing.  To  make  a  succession  of  letters  and  words 
with  smoothness  and  uniformity  requires  additional  elements  of 
movement  to  those  which  are  involved  in  the  production  of  sepa- 
rate letters.  We  may  consider  first  the  conditions  of  this  more 
general  phase  of  the  movement  by  which  a  succession  of  letters  is 
produced. 

In  order  that  this  larger  element  in  the  writing  movement  may 
be  carried  on  smoothly  and  accurately  the  position  of  the  hand  and 
arm  must  be  such  that  the  hand  can  slide  easily  along  the  line  while 

159 


i6o  THE  HANDWRITING  MOVEMENT 

the  letters  are  being  produced.  This  condition  can  most  readily  be 
met  when  the  hand  rests  upon  the  third  and  fourth  fingers,  and  not 
upon  the  side.  In  order  that  the  hand  shall  not  be  in  danger  of 
resting  upon  the  side,  the  wrist  should  not  be  tilted  more  than  45° 
from  the  horizontal.  A  level  wrist  does  not  seem  to  be  necessary, 
but  it  is  better  to  train  the  child  to  hold  his  wrist  nearly  level  in 
order  to  avert  the  extreme  side  position. 

The  manner  in  which  the  hand  is  carried  along  the  line  is  also 
afifected  by  the  position  of  the  arm  in  relation  to  the  paper.  The 
most  efficient  writers  move  the  hand  along  the  line  by  a  side- 
ward movement  of  the  whole  forearm,  supplemented  in  lesser 
degree  by  sideward  movement  of  the  wrist.  If  this  is  to  be  accom- 
plished without  changing  the  position  of  the  hand  or  shifting  the 
arm,  the  forearm  must  be  nearly  perpendicular  to  the  line  of  the 
writing.  When  the  elbow  is  placed  considerably  toward  the  right, 
as  is  often  the  case,  the  arm  must  be  drawn  back  or  the  hand 
cramped  as  the  pen  proceeds  from  one  letter  or  word  to  another. 

When  the  conditions  which  allow  a  smooth  and  easy  sideward 
movement  of  the  hand  have  been  met,  it  is  desirable  to  train  the 
child  directly  in  this  movement  by  giving  him  special  exercises. 
These  exercises  may  consist  in  making  slightly  curved  lines  which 
require  a  wide  sweep  of  the  pen  across  the  page,  or  in  making  letters 
at  wide  distances  apart,  joined  by  connecting  lines. 

The  manner  in  which  the  penholder  is  grasped  is  of  importance 
for  the  production  of  the  letters.  This  is  true  whether  the  letters 
are  to  be  produced  by  a  movement  largely  of  the  fingers  or  by  a 
movement  of  the  arm.  The  requirements  of  holding  the  pen  may 
be  summarized  in  the  one  statement  that  the  grasp  should  be 
reasonably  loose  and  natural;  that  is,  the  fingers  should  be  in  their 
natural  position.  Tightness  of  grasp  and  unnaturalness  of  position 
usually  go  together.  When  the  grasp  of  the  penholder  is  tight,  the 
muscles  by  which  the  movement  is  produced  are  already  in  a  state 
of  tension  and  cannot  move  freely  and  easily.  When  the  fingers 
are  drawn  upward  and  there  is  a  sharp  angle  at  the  middle  joint 
the  grasp  of  the  penholder  is  usually  tight.  A  specific  point  upon 
which  the  statistics  are  quite  clear  concerns  the  relative  position 
of  the  index  finger  and  the  thumb  on  the  penholder.     The  index 


PRACTICAL  RECOMMENDATIONS  i6i 

finger  should  rest  against  the  penholder  below  the  thumb.  It  is 
obvious  that  this  is  the  natural  position,  since  the  finger  is  longer 
than  the  thumb;  and  when  it  is  violated  there  is  almost  bound  to 
be  a  cramping  of  the  fingers. 

Within  such  gross  limits  as  these  wide  variations  may  be 
allowed  both  in  position  and  movement.  The  differences  in  the 
formation  of  the  hand  or  in  the  type  of  nervous  activity  of  differ- 
ent individuals  make  it  desirable  to  permit  considerable  indi- 
viduality. A  study  of  the  handwriting  movement  impresses  one 
with  the  tremendous  variety  of  ways  in  which  the  elements  of  the 
movement  may  be  combined.  To  attempt  to  cast  every  individual 
into  the  same  mold  is  to  restrict  this  natural  variability.  There 
are  certain  limits  beyond  which  individual  variation  should  be 
curbed,  because  it  results  in  a  deterioration  of  the  writing  product. 
These  limits  have  been  indicated  in  the  report. 

Intermediate  between  those  elements  of  position  which  have 
been  described  and  the  subtler  phases  of  movement  which  cannot 
be  discovered  by  ordinary  observation  are  the  grosser  aspects  of 
movement  which  are  ordinarily  referred  to  when  we  speak  of  the 
handwriting  movement.  It  is  these  elements  which  have  been 
included  in  the  present  study  under  the  term  "composition  of  the 
movement."  The  writing  movement  may  be  composed  in  varying 
proportions  of  the  movement  of  the  fingers,  the  movement  of  the 
hand  as  a  whole,  and  the  movement  of  the  arm.  Within  the 
general  class  of  finger  movement  or  of  hand  movement  there  are 
also  numerous  minor  variations. 

The  results  of  the  study  do  not  support  the  exclusive  arm- 
movement  theory  which  is  prevalent  among  the  authors  of  present- 
day  writing  systems.  In  the  first  place,  there  is  scarcely  a  writer, 
so  far  as  this  investigation  indicates,  who  uses  solely  the  arm  move- 
ment in  the  production  of  the  letters.  When  we  confine  our 
examination  to  elementary-school  pupils,  with  whom  alone  we  are 
concerned  in  public-school  teaching,  we  find  a  relatively  small  per 
cent  in  any  system  or  any  grade  who  use  the  arm  movement 
chiefly.  The  fingers  always  co-operate  to  a  greater  or  less  extent, 
and  usually  to  a  greater  extent,  in  the  formation  of  the  letters. 
Efforts  to  develop  an  exclusive  arm  movement  are  not  successful. 


i62  THE  HANDWRITING  MOVEMENT 

In  the  second  place,  there  is  not  that  closeness  of  relationship 
between  the  degree  of  arm  movement  which  is  used  and  the  excel- 
lency of  the  writing  which  is  implied  in  the  extreme  emphasis 
which  is  put  on  this  t}pe  of  movement.  Good  writers  use  the  finger 
movement  as  frequently  as  do  poor  writers.  The  chief  difference 
between  the  good  and  the  poor  writers  appears  to  be  that  poor 
writers  use  the  other  varieties  of  movement,  such  as  the  hand  and 
the  wrist  movements,  with  greater  frequency  than  do  the  good 
writers.  The  indications  are  that  the  fingers  and  the  arm  should 
be  the  chief  components  of  the  writing  movement. 

While  training  in  arm  movement  is  beside  the  point  in  its  aim, 
it  does  have  indirect  consequences  which  are  of  value.  The  com- 
parison between  the  public-school  children  who  had  been  trained 
in  arm  movement  and  the  University  Elementary  School  children 
indicates  that  the  former  had  developed  a  better  organization  of 
the  movement  from  the  point  of  view  of  speed.  We  shall  defer  the 
detailed  consideration  of  this  for  a  moment,  but  here  simply  com- 
ment upon  the  fact  that  the  writing  drill  which  has  as  its  primary, 
avowed  aim  the  development  of  the  arm  movement  does,  as  a  sec- 
ondary consequence,  develop  a  type  of  speed  organization  which  is 
valuable.  The  contention  of  this  report  is  that  it  would  be  more 
economical  to  aim  directly  at  the  proper  type  of  speed  organization, 
and  not  to  attempt  the  well-nigh  impossible  task  of  developing 
exclusive  arm  movement  in  all  children. 

The  fact  that  the  training  class  in  the  University  Elementary 
School  developed  a  fair  amount  of  arm  movement  supports  these 
conclusions.  It  indicates  that  a  moderate  amount  of  arm  move- 
ment is  useful.  It  indicates,  further,  that  for  the  development 
of  the  degree  of  arm  movement  which  is  desirable  no  direct  specific 
drill,  in  which  the  child's  attention  is  called  to  arm  movement,  is 
necessary.  The  degree  of  arm  movement  which  is  desirable  will 
come  as  a  by-product  of  the  adoption  of  a  favorable  position  and 
of  drill  in  fluent  lateral  movement  and  in  rhythmic  writing. 

The  most  important  conditions  of  efhciency,  as  determined  by 
this  study,  are  those  which  relate  to  the  speed  changes  in  the  writ- 
ing movement.  The  writing  movement  is  produced  by  a  series  of 
muscular  contractions,  which  are  in  turn  caused  by  a  series  of 


PRACTICAL  RECOMMENDATIONS  163 

nervous  excitations.  The  speed  changes  in  the  movement  of  the 
pen  point  are  the  expression  of  the  mode  of  timing  and  the  degree 
of  vigor  or  force  of  these  nervous  excitations.  When  a  long 
stroke  is  made  with  greater  speed  than  a  short  stroke,  this  is  an 
indication  that  the  force  of  the  nervous  impulse  is  approjiriately 
related  to  the  time  element  of  the  movement.  It  is  an  expression 
of  the  tendency  toward  uniformity  in  the  duration  of  the  successive 
strokes  which  is  characteristic  of  regular  and  rhythmical  move- 
ment. When,  on  the  other  hand,  a  short  stroke  is  made  with  as 
great  or  greater  rapidity  than  a  longer  stroke  irregularity  is  shown. 
When  similar  strokes  are  made  with  widely  varying  speeds  there 
is  an  indication  of  irregularity  in  the  succession  of  the  nervous 
impulses. 

Not  only  must  the  successive  nervous  impulses  have  the  char- 
acteristic of  regularity,  but  the  impulses  must  also  be  adapted  to 
the  forms  which  are  to  be  produced.  This  adaptation  is  brought 
about  by  good  writers  by  dividing  into  units  the  total  movement 
by  which  a  word  is  written.  These  units  are  made  to  correspond 
to  the  characteristics  of  the  form  of  the  letters.  There  are  certain 
turning-points  in  form  which  are  appropriate  as  division-points  in 
the  movement.  They  may  be  described  as  resting-places  in  the 
flight  of  the  pen.  The  strokes  between  these  resting-places  are 
made  as  units,  and  this  organization  of  the  movement  seems  to 
be  favorable  to  smooth  lines  and  well-formed  letters. 

Writing  to  a  count  or  to  time  is  a  device  which  favors  the 
development  of  the  speed  organization  of  the  writing  movement 
which  has  just  been  described.  The  counting  must  be  adapted  in 
its  average  speed  to  the  level  of  the  ability  of  the  pupil.  It  must 
also  be  adapted  to  the  forms  of  the  letters  which  are  to  be  produced. 
This  means  that  those  strokes  which  are  the  natural  units  of  the 
writing  movement  must  be  isolated  and  designated  by  the  count. 
If  the  total  amount  which  is  included  within  a  count  is  too  great  or 
too  small  the  speed  of  the  movement  on  this  count  will  be  dis- 
proportionate. 

When  a  progressive  course  is  organized  which  puts  into  prac- 
tice the  principles  in  regard  to  position  and  movement  which  have 
been  outlined,  the  results  indicate  that  the  conclusions  are,  on  the 


i64  THE  HANDWRITING  MOVEMENT 

whole,  correct.  The  pupils  who  were  taught  by  the  application 
of  these  principles  made  37  per  cent  greater  progress  in  speed  and 
ten  times  as  much  progress  in  form  as  the  pupils  in  two  other 
schools  which  were  compared  with  the  experimental  school,  and 
they  made  more  progress  than  is  usually  made  in  a  year  in  the 
experimental  school  itself.  The  course  itself  is  undoubtedly 
capable  of  many  improvements,  but  its  general  success  is  con- 
firmatory evidence  of  the  correctness  of  its  fundamental  principles. 

SUMMARY 

1.  The  forearm  should  be  nearly  perpendicular  to  the  line  of  writing. 

2.  The  hand  should  face  downward,  so  that  the  wrist  is  not  inclined 
more  than  45°. 

3.  The  hand  should  slide  on  the  third  and  fourth  fingers. 

4.  The  grasp  of  the  pen  should  be  Ught,  with  the  fingers  moderately 
curved  and  with  the  forefinger  resting  on  the  penholder  lower  down  than 
the  thumb. 

5.  The  sideward  movement  of  the  hand  across  the  line  should  be 
free  and  exercises  should  be  given  to  make  it  so. 

6.  The  letters  may  be  formed  by  such  a  combination  of  finger  and 
arm  movement  as  is  most  natural  to  the  pupils. 

7.  The  pupil  should  be  given  training  which  will  form  the  habit  of 
organizing  the  writing  movement  into  units  which  are  well  adapted  to 
the  forms  of  the  letters.  While  this  habit  is  being  formed  counting  is  a 
helpful  device. 

8.  While  it  did  not  grow  directly  out  of  the  analytic  experiment,  one 
further  feature  of  the  method  amply  justified  itself  in  the  pedagogical 
experiment.  ^The  pupil  should  be  taught  to  make  systematic  criticism 
of  his  own  writing  and  should  have  definite  knowledge  of  his  standing 
and  progress. 


INDEX 


INDEX 


Acceleration,  66 

Age  differences,  5,  11,  14,  18,  115, iig, 125 

Alignment,  128 

Analytical  experiment,  i 

Apparatus,  15,  117 

Apparatus  and  technique,  20 

Arm  lifting,  17,  82 

Arm  movement,  i,  6,  16,  42,  45,  48,  57, 

61,  68,  82,  III,  118,  125,  160,  164 
Ayres  Scale,  121,  124 

Binet,  A.,  8 
Bryan,  W.  L.,  14 
Bryant  School,  136,  137 

Camera,  20;  focusing,  20,  22;  method  of 
driving,  20;  mounting,  23;  position  of , 
23;  speed  of,  19;  uniformity  of  speed 
of,  20,  22;  Urban,  20 

Check  schools,  137 

Clock  for  regulating  speed  of  camera,  22 

Cooling  devices,  26 

Co-ordination,  49;  complexity  of  writ- 
ing, 4;    of  elementary  movements,  37 

Correlation,  125;  arm  movement  with 
age,  123;  arm  movement  with  quality, 
123;  arm  movement  with  speed,  123; 
rhythm  with  age,  119;  rhythm  with 
quality,  121;    rhythm  with  speed,  122 

Counting,  126,  163 

Courtier,  8 

Diehl,  A.,  7      ■ 

Dougherty,  MaryL.,xv,  126,  127,  138 

Drill,  17,  30,   119;    arm-movement,   29, 

162 
Dunn,  C.  F.,  xv 

Experiment:  pedagogical,  126;  subjects 
of,  29 

Fatigue,  10 

Field  study,  1,117 

Figures,  ix 

Finger:   movement,  i,  5,  17,  36,  42,  45, 

52,  57,  65,  81,  III,  117,  125,  160,  164; 

position,  18 


Form  analysis,  126,  131,  159 

Form  and  speed,  relation  of,  3 

Form:   gain  in,  140,  142;   uniformity  in, 

159 
Freeman,  F.  N.,  2,  7,  8.  11,  14,  117,  136 
Freeman  Scale,  121,  124.  132,  136,  138 

General  Education  Board,  xv 
Gilbert,  J.  A.,  14 
Gillet,  H.  O.,  xvi 
Goldscheider,  A.,  7 
Gowans,  J.  W.,  xv 
Grade  progress,  2 
Grading,  164 

Grand  Rapids,  119;  Survey,  2 
Greeson,  W.  A.,  xv 

Habit  formation,  131 

Hancock,  J.  A.,  14 

Hand:  cramping  of,  16.  69,  8r,  105.  loS; 
diagram  of  position,  19;  drawings  of, 
15;  flexibility  of,  107;  movement,  i,  6, 
16,  27,  36,  64,  81,  III,  117;  position, 
5,  7,  15,  18,  27,  32,  42,  52,  56,  61,  64, 
74,  81,  94,  97,  99,  116,  126;  position  of 
adults,  103;  position  of  children,  96; 
steadiness  of,  14;  support,  16,  19,  28, 
T,T,,  48,  56,  61,  74,  Si,  94,  96,  100, 
105,  116,  126,  160,  164;  tracer,  6,  15, 
117 

Handwriting  manual,  2 

Handwriting,  previous  studies  of,  i 

Highleyman,  Gertrude,  xvi 

Illumination,  23 

Impulse,  total,  8,  11 

Impulses,  single,  8,  11 

Individual  differences,  3,  161;   in  relation 

to  speed  and  form,  4 
Indivuluai  needs,  128 
Individual  v'ariation,  30 
Jack,  W.  R.,  8 
Jackson,  E.  H.,  xv 
Judd,  C.  H.,  2,  6 

Kansas  City,  Kansas,  119,  127 


167 


i68 


INDEX 


Lamps:  Cooper-Hewitt,  24;  flaming  arc, 

24;  nitrogen,  24 
Lens,  20,  22 

Letter  form,  perception  of,  115 
Letter  formation,  16,  35,  45,  64,  105,  116, 

159 
Letter  forms,  8,  13,  18,  128 
Letter  units,  64 
Line,  quality  of,  128 
Longfellow  School,  wn,  127,  136,  137 

McAllister,  C.  N.,  8,  13 

MclNIillan,  D.  P.,  13 

Manual  of  instruction,  126 

Martin,  Minnie  ]\L,  xv 

Mattoon,  119 

Methods  of  investigation,  15 

Metronome,  131,  136 

Meumann,  E.,  8,  11 

Mirrors  reflecting  hand,  22, 

Motion-picture:    method,   15;    negative, 

23;    projection  machine,   24;    records, 

analysis  of,  31 
Motion  pictures,  aspects  revealed  by,  18 
Movement:    accuracy  of  14;    arm,  i,  6, 

16,  42,  45,  48,  57,  61,  68,  82,  III,  118, 

125,  160,  164;  combined,  37,  42;  com- 
plexity of,  37;  composition  of,  i,  5,  7, 
35,  48,  64.  106,  116,  iig,  161,  164; 
consistency  in,  18,  95;  continuity  of, 
II,  74,  83;  control  of,  56;  correlation 
of,  41;  direction  and  speed  of,  5,  13; 
finger,  i,  5,  17,  36,  42,  45,  52,  57,  65, 
81,  III,  117,  125,  160,  164;  freedom  of, 

17,  132;  gross,  15,  19;  hand,  i,  6,  16, 
27,  36,  64,  81,  III,  117;  intermittent, 
17,  64;  lateral,  6,  13,  16,  27,  35,  42,  45, 
52,  56,  61,  64,  74,  81,  93,   105,   116, 

126,  159,  164;  lateral,  between  words, 
no;  lateral,  ease  of,  113;  lateral,  exer- 
cises for,  128,  160;  lateral,  within 
words,  108;  pauses  in,  17,  40;  rapidity 
of,  14,  51,  57;  regularity  of,  80,  83,  95; 
retardation  of,  17,  41;  uniformity  of, 
45,  74;  units  of,  2,  17,  41,  45,  50,  55, 
57,  64,  73,  95,116,  125,  127,  163;  units 
of,  training  in  organization  of,  126; 
wrist,  16,  27,  52,  57,  61,  65,  81,  93,  160 

Movement  and  letter  forms,  48,  51,  56, 

66,  80,  95 
Muscle  pad,  16 

Nutt,  H.  W.,  XV,  106,  117,  118 

Obici,  G.,  6 
Optigraph,  24 


Palmer  System,  137 

Paper:  position  of,  13;  shift  of,  7 

Pauses,  2,  41,  55,  64,  73,  114.  116 

Pearson,  M.  E.,  xv 

Pedagogical  experiment,  126 

Penholder,  angle  of:  43,  52,  56,  61,  65,  74, 

81 ;  with  the  arm,  16,  33,  97,  102;  with 

downstrokes,  16,  97,  loi 
Penholding,  i,  16,  19,  28,  2>i,  42,  48,  52, 

57,  61,  97,  102,  116,  126,  160,  164 
Photographic  method,  advantages  of,  19 
Poor   writers,   96;     adult,   position   and 

movement  of,  42;    children,  position 

and  movement  of,  64 
Position:  arm,  5,  7,  15,  18,  28,  32,  42,  57, 

61,  65,  80,  82,  97,  loi,  105,  116,  160, 

164;  body,  106;  finger,  18;  hand,  5,  7, 

15,  18,  27,  32,  42,  52,  56,  61,  64,  74,  81, 

94,  97,  99,  116,  126;  hand  and  arm,  i; 

uniformity  of,  35;    wrist,  5,  7,  16,  19, 

28,  33,  42,  61,  97,  100,  105,  126,  160, 

164 
Practice,  11 
Pressure,  8;    changes,  5,  7;   of  fingers  on 

penholder,  6;   of  writing,  18 
Projection:    of  photographs,  18,  24;    of 

records,  15 
Projection  machine,  motion-picture,  24 
Pronation,  6,  28,  96,  116 

Quindaro  School,  136,  137 

Rape,  Arthur  O.,  xv 

Ray  School,  29,  30,  52,  56,  61,  68,  80,  100, 
112 

Recommendations,  159 
Records,  methods  of  studying,  27 
Relation  of  movement  to  form,  38 
Rhythm,  5,  10,  18,  39,  48,  55,  114,  119, 

125,  128,  133,  163;   index  of,  120 
Roberts,  Grace,  xvi,  127 

Scale:  arm-movement,  118;  Ayres,  121, 
124;   Freeman,  121,  124,  132,  136,  138 

School  of  Education,  30 

Screen,  adjustment  of,  26 

Script:  English  and  German,  8;  Ger- 
man, II 

Self-criticism,  132,  136,  164 

Slant,  6,  45,  52,  57,  65,  128,  159;  uni- 
formity of,  35 

Smith,  M.  K.,  11 

Spacing,  128,  159 


INDEX 


169 


Speed:  changes,  2,  5,  7,  13,  15,  17,  40,  42, 
45,  49,  57,  61,  64,  73,  80,  82,  Q4,  113, 
116,  125,  127,  162,  164;  changes,  re- 
cording of,  28;  curve  ,15,  18,  40;  gain 
in,  141;  organization,  135;  records,  9, 
29,  38,  117;  retardation  in,  41,  66;  of 
writing,  17 

Speed  and  form,  relation  of,  3 

Standard  scores,  138 

Standards,  4 

St.  Louis  Survey,  2 

Strokes,  letter:  composition  of  movement 
on,  no;  the  relation  between,  10,  12, 
39;  upward  and  downward,  speed  of, 
39 

Summary,  i,  4,  15,  64,  81,  94,  105,  116, 
125, 126, 164 

Surveys,  school,  of  writing,  2 

Tables,  xiii 

Tests,  2 

Topeka,  119 

Tracer,  hand,  6 

Training,  45,  119;  effect  on  position  and 

movement,  81;    methods,  of  i,  6,  19, 

29;   result  of,  83 
Training  course,  16,  105,  127;  expanded, 

133;    expanded,  results  of,   138,   164; 

preliminary,  128;    preliminary,  results 

of,  133 
Training  exercises,  106 
Training  group:    public  school,  2;    Uni- 
versity   Elementary    School,     2,    16, 

126 
Training  school,  137 


University  of  Chicago  Press.  30 
Univeristy  Elementary  School,  15.  29,  30, 

52,  57,  64,  74,  100,  112,  113,  u6,  126, 

162 

Variations:  among  cities.  3;  among 
schools,  3;  among  teachers,  3 

West,  P.  v.,  XV 

Wiley,  V.  F.,  xv 

Wilson,  H.  B.,  xv 

Winfield,  119 

Woodworth,  R.  S.,  13 

Wrist:  movement,  16,  28,  52,  57,  61,  65, 
81,  93,  160;  position,  5,  7,  16,  19,  28, 
33,  42,  61,  97,  100,  105,  126,  160,  164 

Writers:  adult,  31;  difference  between 
good  and  poor,  1,7;  good  and  poor,  15, 
18,  30,  52,  64,  81,  94,  96.  99,  104,  III, 
115,  127;   public-school,  15 

Writing:  form  of,  17;  good  and  poor, 
125;  quality  of,  120,  125;  position  in, 
31,  35,  48,  96,  131,  133;  pressure  of, 
18;   speed  of,  17,  120,  122,  126,  132 

Writing  balance,  7 

Writing  copy,  131 

Writing  exercises,  1 26 

Writing  habit,  3 

Writing  movement,  i,  31,  96,  117,  159; 
components  of,  5 

Writing  practice,  132 

Writing  stroke,  complexity  of,  5 

Writing  test,  directions  for,  137 

Zaner,  C.  P.,  30,  31,  35 


4170     1 


UNIVERSITY  OF  CALIFORNIA   AT  LOS  ANGELES 

THE  UNIVERSITY  LIBRARY 
This  book  is  DUE  on  the  last  date  stamped  below 


I 


S  liOV  i     193b 
JAN  3     1939 

APR  2  5  i5o)s» 


.^0 


\' 


I-    194) 


2  7  1' 


T^' 


DEC^^Wi 


DEC     1  19^2 


h\\\ 


■mm 


0  tiSO 


«^0 


it«f 


194:? 


ife, 


is 


Form  L-9-20)i(  S.-:!7 


ij  19a      ()ISCHARGE-URL 

FEB     3 1981 


MAY  1     1950 


tB/URL 

«««»Aff2l89N0V2lBB 


mf^ 


Zrl'^^*^ 


l*****'*""^ 


Lib 


iir,  SOUTHERN  RfGlO^Al 


AA    001036  386    9 


